Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles
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François Xavier d'Entrecolles (1664 in Lyon – 1741 in Beijing; Chinese name: 殷弘绪, Yin Hongxu) was a French Jesuit priest, who learned the Chinese technique of manufacturing porcelain through his investigations in China at Jingdezhen with the help of Chinese Catholic converts between 1712 and 1722, during the rule of the Kangxi Emperor.
D'Entrecolles entered the Society of Jesus in 1682. He arrived in China in 1698 to become a member of the Jesuit China missions. Initially proselytizing in Jiangxi, he then became Superior General of the French Jesuits in China from 1706 to 1719.
D'Entrecolles was then Superior of the French Residence in Beijing from 1722 to 1732. He died in Beijing in 1741.
Independently of d'Entrecolles, but unknown to him, in 1710 the German Johann Friedrich Böttger (and possibly Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus before him in 1708) had already discovered the secret of hard-paste porcelain manufacture, which led to the establishment of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. D'Entrecolles used direct observation at the kilns, as well as the technical knowledge of some of his converts, and also directly consulted Chinese technical sources, thought to be the 1682 printing of the Fu-liang Hsien Chih.
D'Entrecolles sent back to Father Orry, S.J., Procator of the Jesuit missions in China and the Indies, a detailed, very comprehensive and well-structured letter to communicate his findings:
"From time to time I have stayed in Ching-tê-chên to administer to the spiritual necessities of my converts, and so I have interested myself in the manufacture of this beautiful porcelain, which is so highly prized, and is sent to all parts of the world. Nothing but my curiosity could ever have prompted me to such researches, but it appears to me that a minute description of all that concerns this kind of work might, somehow, be useful in Europe." Introduction of "The Letters of Père d'Entrecolles".
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