Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence was applied to the study of 30 pieces of Chinese porcelain from the Nanking Cargo and four of modern fakes. Analysis showed that the Nanking Chinese porcelains were made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain city of China. Principal component analysis using 10 elements (iron, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, rubidium, strontium, yttrium, zirconium, and niobium) enabled discrimination between the various elements as useful or not useful variables. It was also found that the glaze used for the base regions was rather different from the glaze used for other regions, a practice which existed during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) but is not carried out nowadays.