Back in 1682, Johann Friedrich Böttger was born to a family of German goldsmiths and craftsmen working in the mints. Young Böttger was brilliant and had a real aptitude for chemistry. This talent usually led to a career as a pharmacist, and Böttger was soon apprenticed as such. However, by the age of 19, Böttger's restless spirit had led him to begin secretly exploring the much more exciting (and forbidden) field of alchemy.

The breakthrough came on January 15, 1708. In testing varying ratios of kaolin clay and alabaster, Böttger found three ratios that met the parameters of a porcelain clay body. His tiny test tiles were the very first European-produced porcelain objects, or so we are led to believe.

Porcelain pottery could have been made in Vauxhall decades before experts first thought after scientists used state-of-the-art technology to re-examine two tiny jars at Burghley House in Lincolnshire.

Experts from the British Museum found hard-paste porcelain ceramics in the make-up of the Buckingham China pair at the grandiose Stamford mansion, pre-dating the earliest known production in Germany by at least 25 years.

The development casts doubt over the claim of Johann Friedrich Böttger, who was imprisoned by King Augustus for failing to deliver on a promise to turn metal into gold, to be the creator of Europe’s first porcelain.

Officials at the House said the discovery was as hypothetically revelatory as hearing the American moon landing had been eclipsed by Russian astronauts several years beforehand.

Research into the artefacts began in 1991, when inconclusive research left Sotheby investigator Gordon Lang unable to prove his claim that they were made of porcelain. A dissertation on the pieces by an American student reopened interest in the delicate duo in 2007.

English Ceramic Circle published an in-depth report on them last year, and former ECC President John Mallet said the truth behind the treasures remained "complex".

"It is by no means certain that the second Duke of Buckingham was the maker of the vases at Burghley and elsewhere, nor, if he was, that the vases were made at his glassworks at Vauxhall, although the argument for their production in England is quite strong."

MAKE International runs a successful internet store, specialising in designer porcelain pottery, china pottery and all sorts of other ceramics pottery.