Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles

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. His observations were published in a long letter in 1712, and carefully studied in several European countries, even though Meissen porcelain was already making hard-paste porcelain in Germany by then. The letter's author was given as Père d'Entrecolles ("Father d'Entrecolles"), and he is still very often referred to as this.

Religious career D'Entrecolles entered the Society of Jesus in 1682.

D'Entrecolles was then Superior of the French Residence in Beijing from 1722 to 1732.

The letters were sent to Father Louis-François Orry, treasurer in Paris of the Jesuit missions to China and India, who soon had them published in the Jesuit missions' annual report Lettres édifiantes et curieuses de Chine par des missionnaires jésuites (1702–1776). They were again published by Jean-Baptiste Du Halde in 1735, with English editions appearing in 1736 or 1738.

He died in Beijing in 1741. In 1734, d'Entrecolles also discussed how the Chinese manufactured mercury.

As a result of d'Entrecolles' work, which has sometimes been described as industrial espionage, Chinese exports of porcelain soon shrank considerably, especially by the end of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

D'Entrecolles was also a translator of Chinese scientific works into French.

Legacy 1712 letter of d'Entrecolles about the Chinese manufacture of Porcelain, 1819 edition.

Following the publication by Father Orry, and later by Jean-Baptiste du Halde in his Description de l'Empire de la Chine (1735), d'Entrecolles' account was used verbatim with attribution in Diderot's Encyclopédie (1751–1772).

Josiah Wedgwood, the famous English porcelain manufacturer, is known to have copied extracts of d'Entrecolles' work in his Commonplace Book. D'Entrecolles' work was also reproduced, without attribution, in Malachy Postlethwayt's widely influential Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (1757–1774).