Abstract
The concentrations of twelve trace elements (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, and Nb) in 143 pieces of Chinese porcelain made in Jingdezhen, China and elsewhere were obtained with the use of the energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique. An elegant method of multi-variate analysis, known as principal component analysis, was successfully employed in fingerprinting the geographical origin of the porcelain samples.