Written to accompany an exhibition of the same name at the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art in 1996, this text is designed to explain the basic science involved in ceramic manufacture, with reference to Chinese ceramics, as they are the most technologically advanced. Both the exhibition and the book were inspired by many requests for basic information about ceramic technology that did not require experience of making pots or a degree in chemistry to understand. The book thus assumes no previous knowledge of ceramic technology or science in general and uses terms which can be defined and explained in a manner accessible to the non-specialist.