Bone China

noble tableware of high transparency

Originally from England, “Bone China” is a further development of the traditional Chinese material composition of hard porcelain. In this process, the kaolin is enriched with animal bone meal (usually bovine bone), which makes the shard much lighter and makes the consistency of the porcelain appear much more transparent. The recipe and the proportion of bone meal is a well-guarded secret from factory to factory and, as far as we know, can be up to 50% of the raw material content different. As a rule, bone china is much lighter and thinner than normal hard porcelain.

Bone China, with its special, slightly yellowish shine and inimitable transparency, is usually considered the “best type of porcelain”. However, since the term “best” only denotes an unconcrete superlative, this popular opinion of porcelain makers cannot be confirmed.

Although bone china is usually reserved for consumers with a somewhat larger purse, this is probably also due to the fact that this type of porcelain has been able to keep up with the league of premium porcelain.

It is a fact that the raw material of bone china is the most expensive of all earthenware types. However, since the bone meal literally burns in the temperature range of hard firing (> 1,320 °C), the firing temperatures of bone china (1,190 – 1,260 °C) are usually significantly lower than those of hard porcelain. This results in the fact that the Mohs hardness (solid state physics: tear resistance) of bone china is clearly inferior to that of typical hard porcelain. Because of this limited usability, it is usually used “as good tableware” in the household or in star restaurants.

Note: Please do not be irritated by quality designations like “New Bone”, “Cashmere Bone” or “Fine Bone”! This is not real bone china, but an inferior quality ceramic!

Holst Porzellan/Germany does not stock bone china. The cost structure, durability and limited variety of use of this noble ceramic does not fit in with our concept “Simple and Strong”. If you would like to learn more about bone china, we recommend visiting the pages of…

• Dibbern/Germany (Top 5 in Germany)
• Narumi/Japan (Top 5 in Asia)
• Nikko/ Japan (Top 5 in Asia)