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Years ago, throughout the United States of America, meal time meant a family sitting around the kitchen table every single night. Eating off of a table set with a plate, fork, knife, spoon, drinking glass, napkin and a centerpiece was a nightly ritual for most people back then. While this ritual is rather rare in this day and age, eating off fine china, and enjoying stimulating conversation, is still a great way to welcome in the evening hours.
In this blog, Dinner-Set.com , we will be:
- exploring the world of the dinner set
- providing some examples of great ones
- letting you know where you can obtain them
In ancient times, civilizations were often identified and characterized by the pottery remains that archaeologists found on their various dig sites. In fact, many ancient peoples valued their dinnerware and pottery so much that they were even buried with it!
Today’s dinnerware is now commonly referred to by the name “China”. Have you ever wondered why this is the case? This is because dinnerware is generally made out of porcelain, and porcelain was invented by the Chinese over 1000 years ago. It was most likely invented during the Tang Dynasty, but for some reason the emperors of the Song Dynasty seem to get most of the credit now a days. About midway through the Song Dynasty, around 1100 AD to be more exact, the art and skill of porcelain making had spread throughout the East. By 1400 AD this skill had migrated to Europe as well.
The cost of importing fine dinnerware from China was every expensive back then, so only the very rich could afford to own it. As a result of this fact, the Europeans started to develop their own “China” factories. They even modified the process a bit by using a different mixture of clays and other materials. This change created a “softer China”, and had a duller or “softer tone” of the similar product that was being produced in China. In England, around the 1700’s, yet another form of “China” was starting to be developed. Called “Bone China”, it was made from a mixture of porcelain clays and bone ash.
It’s interesting that many of our most collectible and valuable dinnerware today is made from pottery, not porcelain. Sometimes known as “earthenware”, it was extremely popular during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
The most widely used pottery today is something called “Stoneware”. It seems to be almost everywhere these days, from homes to stores to restaurants. Stoneware pottery is fired at a very high temperature (until it is completely solid and able to hold liquids). The process for creating Stoneware, like that of porcelain, originated in China…about 3500 years ago. Here’s a bit of trivia… Some of the most sought after pieces of Stoneware were created here in the United States (in the Virginia and New England areas to be more exact) in the mid 1800’s.
In our future posts we will look at some of the fine pieces of a dinner set, and where you can obtain them.
