Porcella

Porcella - the origin of the porcelain name

(With thanks and copyright to Florence Bruyas 2018)

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In Italian, the term "porcella" refers to a rare white noble mussel with a shiny surface. 

When Marco Polo first brought porcelain from China to Europe, this type of material was completely unknown. Polo promised the financiers of his costly voyages of discovery to bring gold and precious treasures. So in 1295, after his return to Venice, he handed over the captured and collected treasures to his liege lords.  The Catholic Church, represented by Pope Boniface VIII, showed no interest in the porcelain, or its imitation, and left this booty to Amadeus of Savoy, who, through his kinship with the Habsburgs, quickly carried the spirit of white gold to all the aristocratic houses of Europe.  

Unfortunately there was no name for this kind of material. There was also a lack of any knowledge about the production of Chinese porcelain and thus also about its actual value. So Marco Polo named his travel treasure after the bowl of the Porcella, because of the extraordinary white base colour of the tableware and its mother-of-pearl like, shiny surface.

About four centuries later, it was possible for the first time to produce the white gold of Asia more or less similarly in Europe. However, the name "Porcella" had become so widespread and naturalised in all languages that it was retained in the new porcelain domains of Italy, France and Germany despite its erroneous origin. In the meantime, the Portuguese and British had been trading extensively with China since the early 16th century, importing porcelain in addition to opium, spices and other raw materials. They did not follow the melodious naming of Marco Polo but called it „Chinaware" without distinguishing between origin, material, decoration and quality layer.

The term "Chinaware" is still used today in the same way for the qualities inferior to porcelain.

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