Chinese artisans had already been making porcelain for thousands of years when Venetian merchant Marco Polo first brought porcelain from China to Europe in the 14th century. Polo’s discovery started Europe’s enduring love of porcelain. European porcelain has a fascinating story to tell. “From functional pieces and decorative objects, to fine art and tableware, porcelain has been continually reinvented and played an important role in history,” Rebecca Tilles said in a press release. She is associate curator of 18th-century French and Western European fine and decorative arts at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, in Washington, D.C. Europeans admired porcelain’s strong yet delicate, solid but translucent nature, calling it “white gold” due to its pure white color and high import costs. They began to import porcelain from China and also set about making their own. But China’s porcelain proved hard to emulate. In China, artisans created true or hard-paste porcelain from …