China painting paintings, engravers, enamels and even the painters themselves to the Imperial court, and these designs found their way into porcelain decoration. Colorful enamel paints, used in German tin-glazed pottery, gave rise to new techniques such as famille rose coloring in Chinese porcelain. Designs of European origin found their way onto many porcelain items made in China for export to Europe. At least 60 million pieces of Chinese porcelain were imported to Europe in the 18th century. A first attempt to manufacture porcelain in Europe was undertaken in Florence, Italy in the late 16th century, sponsored by Francesco I de' Medici,
French porcelain collection. Ferdinand's first purchase of Sèvres is a poignant narrative at Waddesdon manor, in which at 21 years old, he treated himself to the famous turquoise Sèvres 'boat shaped' potpourri vase "which he bought in instalments and is still at Waddesdon". French porcelain French porcelain has a history spanning a period from the 17th century to the present. The French were heavily involved in the early European efforts to discover the secrets of making the hard-paste porcelain known from Chinese and Japanese export porcelain. They succeeded in developing soft-paste porcelain, but Meissen porcelain was the first to make true hard-paste,