Edmund de Waal's 'El oro blanco' traces porcelain's global history

Ten years after its publication by Seix Barral, Edmund de Waal's 'El oro blanco' (White Gold) remains a key work linking his literary output to his ceramic practice. The book, subtitled 'Historia de una obsesión', chronicles the thousand-year quest for porcelain, starting in Jingdezhen, China, and moving to Europe. De Waal profiles figures such as William Cookworthy, Josiah Wedgwood, Augustus the Strong, Johann Friedrich Böttger, and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. He also covers forced labor in the Nazi Allach factory under Himmler and in Mao's China. Interspersed are reflections on porcelain's white symbolism, the challenges of large-scale work, and De Waal's own artistic evolution from early struggles to refined vessels influenced by Japanese ceramics. The book weaves together alchemists, kings, collectors, and artisans, as well as philosophers like Burke and Leibniz.