The production of porcelain was invented in imperial China in the year 620. The individual raw materials and processes were kept secret for a long time. In 1708, Böttger and Tschirnhaus succeeded in producing the first European hard porcelain. From June 6, 1710, the first European porcelain production facility was established in Meissen at Albrechtsburg. The second oldest porcelain manufactory in Europe was founded just under a decade after Meissen in Vienna. The Vienna Porcelain Manufactory, which supplied the court and nobility with extremely high-quality tableware and decorative items, existed until 1864. From 1718 onwards, porcelain manufactories were established all over Europe. Many of these manufactories had to cease production around the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. It was not until the mid-19th century that numerous new establishments emerged, due to kaolin deposits in northern Bavaria.