Bone china, the paste of which contains calcium phosphate (animal bone ash) which lends whiteness and quality to the material, was first made by the Englishman Thomas Fray in 1749. The Wedgwood ceramics works produced such items and for many years remained the only supplier in the world. Small wonder that they were not eager to publicise their production methods. English bone china, however, was a bit thick and did not produce a desirable light sound.
The production of bone china required changes in the entire production technology, from the preparation of the liquid paste for casting through to the firing process. Apart from clay, kaolin, feldspar and quartz, pre-fired bonemeal was added, thus producing a snow-white paste. In order to preserve intact the thin and fragile shape, the firing was done in the same way as for stoneware: at first at a high temperature and then, after glazing, at 100 degrees less. The glazing of this porcelain was done by means of a spray, applying a very thin layer of glaze; as Vinogradov noted in his records, porcelain glaze should never be thicker than two sheets of paper.
The characteristics of this new material were greatly appreciated by such leading modelers as Eduard Krimmer, Anna Leporskaya and Vladimir Semyonov. The new cup and service shapes they created emphasized the thinness, transparency and whiteness of the enamel while keeping classical proportions and clear, pure contours. Later on, Tatiana Linchevskaya, Nina Slavina and E. Yeropkina were also to work with bone china. The new material and its technical possibilities opened up ever greater scope for creativity. The ceremonial set inch. White Flower inch. , resembling fully opened white campanulas with its emphatically swept edges, designed by Slavina, is evidence of this. This work, together with other work by Slavina, was decorated with the silver medal of the Academy of Arts of the USSR and is now in the collection of the Museum of Russian Applied Arts and in the factory museum. The decoration by Alexei Vorobyevski, Tamara Bespalova-Mikhalyova, Mikhail Mokh and Inna Olevskaya lent these pieces of bone china an air of costly elegance.
Their works immediately achieved the level of collectors' items, and came to secure a firm place as presents to be given at the highest level.
The main aim remained, however, to ensure that bone china would also become items of mass consumption and production. To this end a new production unit was set up at the Leningrad factory exclusively for bone china. All the installations for this, including the technical innovations, were developed within the factory itself. Later on, the production of bone china based on the Leningrad process was extended, with the help of the factory, to Lithuania and the Bulgarian city of Vidin.
The Imperial Porcelain Factory (now known as the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory) was founded by Empress Elizabeth in 1744 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Lomonosov Porcelain Factory was the first porcelain manufacturer in Russia to develop and commercially implement the alabaster porcelain technology. This fine delicate porcelain is a more brilliant white than the usual kind, and thin almost to the point of being translucent.
From its first porcelain bear, hand-made by the inventor of Russian porcelain, Dmitry Vinogradov, Lomonosov has continued the tradition of creating life through porcelain. This quality, demanded by the Imperial Romanov Family, can still be found two and a half centuries later, when more than 300 different types of figurines are made at the factory for people throughout the world to enjoy. And every one of them is handmade and hand-painted. It is this special attention to detail of Lomonosov artists which infuses each figurine with life, soul, individuality.
Standards of excellence set by Lomonosov sculptors, such as B.Vorobyev, I.Riznich, P.Veselov received high international acclaim at World Exhibitions in Brussels, New York, London etc.