A timeline of bone china
From a London patent to a material made on several continents — with experiment clearly separated from the established recipe.
Dates in ceramic history are often approximate: factories rarely announced their recipes, and early pieces were frequently unmarked. Where a date is a range or an estimate, we say so. Markers show where a development was an Experiment and where it became the Established commercial material.
Three centuries
- Experiment
- 1708–1710Hard-paste porcelain in Saxony
The Meissen manufactory opens in 1710 — Europe finally makes true porcelain.
- 1744 & 1749Thomas Frye’s patents at BowExperiment
The second is associated with bone ash in a porcelain body. A phosphatic soft-paste, not yet bone china.
- c. 1745–1784Bone ash at Chelsea and elsewhereExperiment
Several English factories use bone ash in soft-paste bodies, with variable results in the kiln.
- Establishment
- c. 1790–1796Spode’s “Stoke China”Established
Josiah Spode’s works at Stoke-upon-Trent combine bone ash with Cornish china clay and stone — the commercial formulation.
- 1797Josiah Spode dies
His son Josiah Spode II continues and develops the business and the material.
- c. 1800–1815Staffordshire adopts itEstablished
Minton, Davenport, Coalport, Derby and Worcester make bone china. Bone ash becomes the English answer to porcelain.
- 1812Wedgwood begins bone china
Made for a period, then taken up permanently later in the century.
- The great age
- 19th centuryVictorian invention
Minton’s raised and acid-etched gold, Worcester’s Japanese-taste designs, Derby’s rich gilding. Bone china sets the British table.
- 1870s–1880sJaponisme and the art wares
Worcester and Minton produce some of the most inventive bone china ever made.
- 20th centuryLongton’s many works
Dozens of firms make bone china teaware; bottle kilns give way to tunnel kilns after the Second World War.
- A world material
- 1932Noritake begins bone china research and production
Japan becomes the first major producer outside Britain.
- 1964India’s first bone china factory
Bengal Potteries begins an industry later centred on Rajasthan.
- 1965Narumi mass-produces bone china in Japan
Narumi’s hotel collections follow in 1975.
- 1978–1999Nikko, Hankook, Royal Porcelain, Shinepukur
Production spreads across Japan, Korea, Thailand and Bangladesh.
- 1997Dibbern reopens Hohenberg
A historic Bavarian porcelain works is revived to make fine bone china by hand.
- Today
- 2008–2009Spode and Royal Worcester enter administration
Both names pass to Portmeirion; the Spode works in Stoke becomes a heritage site.
- 2015BS 8654 published
A British specification for domestic and hospitality ceramic tableware.
- 2024ISO 5644 published
An international standard for porcelain tableware defines bone china by its tricalcium phosphate content: at least 35% of the fired body.
- 2025–2026Barlaston refocuses
Wedgwood pauses its Barlaston factory and says it will focus there on high-end handcrafted pieces, including its prestige bone china.
- NowMade on several continents
China is reported to be the largest producer by volume; Staffordshire and Derby still fire bone china.