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
Capodimonte porcelain figurine groups became large and complicated, still often wearing 18th-century costume. Baskets of flowers made in porcelain became popular, as did pieces in openwork "spagetto". In the 20th century a style of "raggedly dressed peasants of Walt Disney cartoon appearance" developed, along with "a sub-class of earthenware pieces, mostly boxes, of appalling quality with brassy gilding" but still with the crowned "N" mark. Capodimonte porcelain Capodimonte porcelain (sometimes "Capo di Monte") is porcelain created by the Capodimonte porcelain manufactory ("Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte"), which operated in Naples, Italy, between 1743 and 1759. Capodimonte is the most outstanding factory for early