The Chinese Influence on Pottery in Medieval Europe
1568
The tradition of clay work was one of the few technical processes to survive in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and into the Medieval Period, but pottery techniques remained unchanged. Chinese pottery continued to fluorish into the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) but the Chinese were unwilling to share the secrets of the manufacture of porcelain.These wares were gifts fit for a king. European tableware of the period was still made from pewter or wood. Attempts to discover the secret of the blue and white Ming porcelain gave European potteries a reason to begin experimentation and innovation.

Illustration from:
Panoplia Omnium Illiberalium Mechanicarum aut Sedentariarum Artium Genera Continens by Hartmann Schopper and Jost Amman. Published at Francofurti ad Moenum (Frankfurt) by Sigismundus Feyerabend in 1568.