"In a series of intertwined narratives, Porcelain Stories explores porcelain's beginnings in China around A.D. 600, then follows its diverse developments as a new and fashionable commodity within China and throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The book recounts the ingenious achievements of Chinese porcelain and its worldwide impact through trade, where in the West, it spurred a mania for collecting and an urgent quest seeking the formula for and process of creating porcelain." "Cultural and stylistic interchange between East and West is the other main focus of these stories. They place porcelain objects in the context of their times and cultures, retracing porcelain's technological, aesthetic, and commercial evolution over twelve centuries."--Jacket.