Porcelain, made from crushed rock and clay, was first made in China in about AD 600. As the English word ‘china’ suggest, the material was invented in China; it was made there for more than a thousand years before European kilns discovered the principles of its manufacture. The early fifteenth-century dish on the left of the picture was made at a city called Jingdezhen in south China, where the right rock and clay are found. Porcelain is fired in a very hot kiln at a temperature of more than 1,200 Celsius and its surface is easy to paint and glaze.