FINE CHINA Porcelain endures test of time and use

It's precious and beautiful but not as fragile as people might think.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A thousand-year-old Chinese invention is enjoying a revival of sorts.
Porcelain, the beautiful translucent ceramic born of the purest clay, the finest stone and the hottest fire, has reclaimed its status as the go-to dinnerware in many homes.
This role reversal follows decades of banishment to lighted cabinets in unused dining rooms, while plastics and inexpensive stoneware saw all the action at the kitchen table.
Barbara Luckeroth, who lives in Roeland Park, Kan., said choosing china is a simple way to treat yourself.
"It's special to have your meal on something nice after you went to all that work of cooking," Luckeroth said.
Kids get it, and they don't even cook.
"Children understand porcelain better than adults," said Doris Athineos, antiques editor of Traditional Home magazine. "Children would never play tea with paper cups. They instinctively appreciate (fine china) and are careful with it."
Adults often have a false sense that because it is precious and beautiful, fine china is also delicate. Not so, say experts and collectors.
"Porcelain is not as fragile as you think it is," said Sharon Gray of Independence, Mo. "It holds up. Some of mine is 40 years old, and it looks brand new."
When Gray and her husband moved to a smaller home, they downsized.
"I had to get rid of a lot of antiques, but I told my husband I couldn't get rid of my china," Gray said.
Among the many china pieces tucked into "just about every storage space" of the Grays' trailer home are various pink and blue toile patterns. Gray sometimes uses pink settings at each end of the table with four blue settings. Or she might use pink china toile plates as chargers with pink glass plates from a dollar store on top.
Mixing and matching
Luckeroth also likes to mix and match her porcelain. In fact, she doesn't have a full set of any pattern. Instead she collects pieces that are stark white with silver trim. She said she finds "crazily inexpensive" pieces at estate sales, thrift stores and garage sales. Recently she got a group of 20 pieces for $10. That breaks down to less than fancy paper plates cost.
Because she collects a "look" rather than a pattern, Luckeroth said, she can always find pieces to fit in: "I don't really have to worry about a piece breaking."
Athineos said her magazine tries to show readers how to mix fine china they inherit or find in flea markets with modern pieces they might get as wedding presents or pick up in shops.
"It's about putting it together in a way that reflects your own style," she said.
Although Athineos said she believes there are no rules that can't be successfully broken when it comes to mixing styles, she offers a few guidelines:
UCreate settings where a single color is repeated in different patterns. "People jockey for position in front of their favorite setting when they're all unique."
UUse antique pieces as accents with a plain modern set that holds it all together. But stay away from white; ivory or cream work better with most antiques.
UDon't mix transferware with hand-painted pieces. "You don't want it to look like a flea-market jumble on the table."
The story behind the china
Antique china has many qualities new pieces can't match, Athineos points out. "It's partly what the person sitting in front of the plate brings to it." If a person has a special attachment to the china or if it has a story, that stimulates conversation at the table, she said.
For example, Athineos once ate lunch off vintage White House china plates and drank wine from glasses Jackie Kennedy had selected for the White House at the home of a collector.
And why not, Athineos said.
"If you didn't use them," she said, "it would be the same as living in a museum.
"It's not only the way porcelain looks," Athineos said, "but the way it feels in your hand and on your lips. It's a very tactile experience. Why wouldn't you give yourself that pleasure?"