Microanalytical methods analyzing early European porcelains to study hard paste microstructural evolution

Abstract

This paper presents a proof-of-concept study using chemical quantification from scanning electron microscopy and electron dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) mapping of cross sections of sub-millimeter (mm) samples of two porcelain objects from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (CHSDM) to replicate European porcelain recipes for microstructural evolution experiments. Meissen and Royal Copenhagen replica porcelain bodies were fired in a custom-designed gradient furnace, allowing eight samples of each ware to be fired across a temperature range from 1089°C to 1317°C. Measurements such as bulk density and water absorption, in combination with a microanalytical methodology allowed porosity and quartz dissolution to be tracked as functions of firing temperature. Microstructural assessment including pore size comparison between the historic sample set and the newly made replica pieces suggests that both the Meissen and Royal Copenhagen objects were fired under similar conditions with the latter being over-fired.