Porcelain single operation. In this process, "green" (unfired) ceramic wares are heated to high temperatures in a kiln to permanently set their shapes. Porcelain is fired at a higher temperature than earthenware so that the body can vitrify and become non-porous. Porcelain originated in China, and it took a long time to reach the modern material. Until recent times, almost all East Asian porcelain was of the hard-paste type. There is no precise date to separate the production of proto-porcelain from that of porcelain. Although proto-porcelain wares exist dating from the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC), by the time of the Eastern
Coalport porcelain keep up the pace of production. The technique was widely adopted by other manufactories during the 19th century. At The Great Exhibition (London 1851) an elaborate Coalport table service with deep borders of mazarin blue was shown; it had been commissioned by Queen Victoria as a gift to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. The Coalport porcelain manufactory, the first porcelain factory in the Ironbridge Gorge, England, was founded by the practical and enterprising John Rose in 1795. Financial support was provided by Edward Blakeway (1720-1811). John Rose had probably trained at the Caughley porcelain manufactory, less than a mile away