The tableware industry is one of the oldest and most respected trades in the world. Whether it was Chinese porcelain makers who discovered the secret of “white gold” in the 1600s, Colonial Americans who fashioned sterling in the 1700s, or Swedish glassblowers revered for the glassblowing skills in present day Scandinavia, tableware artisans have been admired for their creativity, their skills, and their ability to fashion functional tools into works of art.

When caveman first whittled crude spoons for eating, knives for killing prey, or used earth to plug basket holes, an industry was born. While it took thousands of years for anyone to make money out of it, tableware has been around longer than almost any other product.

Let’s start at the beginning. Archaeologists have discovered pottery fragments dating back ten to 12 thousand years, when clay was applied to baskets to make it useful as a food or beverage carrier. These baskets were first dried by sun, and, eventually, over fire.

The first fire-hardened pottery - called redware - was shaped by hand over forms, unglazed, with simple designs cut into the surface with a pointed tool or painted with color clays.

The first step in refinement came by way of Egypt, where artisans were the first to throw clay on a double wheel, thus allowing the potter to use both hands to shape the ware, creating symmetrical shapes and even thickness as opposed to the previously-made irregular ware.

The Persians, many believe, were the first to glaze their ware in 4000 B.C. Decoration is credited to the Greeks, who produced elaborately decorated forms, mostly black on red or red on black. Of course, it wasn’t long before Persian potters improved on the standard red and black ware with a white clay coating. Against white, they could produce brilliantly colored combinations, not possible before. Persians then developed a white tin-enamel coating which was fired with the decoration. Then they applied glazes with metallic lusters over the enamel and refired the ware.

But, perhaps, the greatest contribution came from the Chinese, who, for centuries, experimented with higher firing temperatures, better quality clays, and additional materials. The end product - which premiered between 1368 to 1644 during the Ming Dynasty - was a fine white porcelain. To honor this achievement, the term “china” was applied to all fine ware, no matter where it was produced.

Early porcelain was decorated with blue or red underglaze patterns. Because underglazes tend to run after firing, free designs with a flowing brushwork were characteristic of this period. Eventually, elaborate overglaze designs in a variety of colors replaced the simpler underglaze decorations.

China soon started to trade with Europe and it wasn’t long before Europeans - particularly royalty - coveted the magnificent ware. In Europe, much of what they had previously was crude native pottery and tin-enameled redware. This ware was adapted in Italy where it was called majolica. In France, it was called faience. And in Holland, it was called delft.

When Chinese porcelain appeared in Europe, European potters copied it. The French were first to produce “soft-paste” porcelain, and English soft-paste factories soon sprung.

The first European hard-paste - or true porcelain - was developed in Germany by Friedrich Bötgger, who developed the ware for the Meissen factory. The factory tried to keep the formula secret, keeping workers imprisoned, but somehow, the formula became known.

Chinese imports soon died, as Sevres and Meissen became porcelain hubs, and European porcelain was even shipped to China for decorating. But this waned as Europeans soon perfected their decorating techniques. Dresden, especially, became known for its delicate floral patterns.

While this renaissance was afoot east of the English Channel, in England common redware remained popular through the 17th and 18th centuries. Eventually, fine white earthenware was developed in Staffordshire, where a community of potters had settled and remain to this day. This earthenware was the first low-fired whiteware to be made in the West, thinly potted and featuring a salt glaze. This ware was further developed by Josiah Wedgwood into a cream-colored earthenware.

The English were also the first to develop the transfer print - decals - which allowed the application of a printed decoration and eliminated the need to hand-paint each piece. The English are also noted for expanding the range of tableware items available, the first to offer the equivalent of today’s dinner services.

Eventually, England’s factories experimented with hard-paste porcelain, fashioning their own product which contained animal bone ash, making the ware whiter and more translucent. Bone china was born.

Here in the States, native redware was popular until the American Revolution, when the production of whiteware began in the Ohio Valley. It wasn’t until the late 1800s though that production got into the swing of things. The Ohio potteries, centered around East Liverpool, developed its own distinctive semi-vitreous body. In the 1900s, melamine dinnerware entered the picture, sturdy, lightweight, and break-resistant.

Two recent developments have produced a machine-resistant gold which can withstand extreme wear and another can imitate an acid-etched effect through a transfer process.

So whether its thrown at Greek weddings, twirled by entertainers at the top of poles, or merely an accent for a romantic tête-à-tête, dinnerware has been an indelible part of our heritage and should be romanced as such.