POTTERY

A pot is a vessel intended to hold something. A potter is a man who makes pots of clay or rocky materials, which are afterwards either sun-dried or fire-baked. Pottery means all that is made by the potter, the term being extended to include not only all kinds of pots, but even such things as ornaments, flat plaques, statuettes, or bas-reliefs. The term pottery is often used in a restricted sense, and applied only to common earthenware or crockery, and sometimes to crockery and fine earthenware together.

Pottery comprises three major types of wares:  earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Pottery clay is the clay used to make the three categories of pottery. Clay is baked in a kiln under intense heat, a process known as firing, and becomes solid. Firing is used both to harden the clay and to adhere glaze to it or color it.

The first type of pottery, earthenware, has been manufactured using the same basic techniques since ancient times. Earthenware is basically composed of clay or a blend of clays that are baked firm. Because it is fired at low heat, the pottery clay retains its porous nature and does not become translucent. Earthen wares are porous and therefore not as strong as stone wares. Earthenware can be glazed, but it will never be as hard as stoneware-glazed surface. An earthenware-glazed dish will scratch or chip more easily than the harder surface of stoneware. Faience, delft, and majolica are all types of earthenware clays.

The second type of pottery, called Stoneware is generally a mixture of other clays. It  is relatively rich in vitreous material and has a high degree of plasticity, so it is very easy to manipulate. Stoneware is fired at so high a temperature (about 2185 degrees Fahrenheit) that it becomes as hard as stone and non-porous. In essence, it is man-made stone. Stoneware is extremely strong and will not absorb water. Because stoneware is nonporous, it does not require a glaze; when a glaze is used, it serves a purely decorative function. Stoneware dishes can be used in conventional and microwave ovens.

Porcelain, also called china, was invented by the Chinese and consists of feldspathic material incorporated in a stoneware composition. This pottery is actually made with a mixture of several other types of clay and minerals. It is generally composed of kaolin, ball clay, feldspar and flint. Porcelain is a very hard white ceramic which has been manufactured in China since the 600s, and in Europe since the 1700s. Porcelain is fired using very high heat, resulting in a white, nonporous pottery.  Porcelain is translucent; stoneware and earthenware is not.

History of Pottery

Pottery of the Ancient Mediterranean: By 1500 B.C. the use of glazes was known in Egypt. In Assyria and Neo-Babylonia, painted and glazed bricks were in common use. The Ishtar gate in Babylon, with its ceramic reliefs, is an early example of the majolica technique. The Greek vases are famous for symmetry of form and beauty of decoration. Of the Greco-Roman wares, the Arretine or Samian, was molded after first being turned on the wheel to the size of the mold, which carried the decoration in intaglio.  

Pottery of Asia: Painted pottery of the Neolithic period has been found in China. By the 2d cent. B.C. the Early Han period had developed a green glaze which may have come from the Middle East. In the Sui period and the T’ang period, porcelain began to be made and exported to Korea and Japan and to the Islamic world.

Pottery of Europe: In Europe there was little pottery of great aesthetic importance before the 15th cent., except perhaps some German stonewares. Majolica was mainly developed in Italy and from there spread to Spain, France, and to Holland. Majolica and stoneware were the main pottery forms in Europe until the advent of porcelain. 

Pottery of the Americas: Prehistoric pottery found in Peru, Mexico, and the SW United States reveals a high degree of skill in color, form, and decorative motifs. Baked-clay work by colonists in North America began in 1612 with the making of bricks and tiles in Virginia and Pennsylvania. In these states and among the Dutch settlers of New York, potteries were soon established. The first whiteware was made in 1684. A stoneware factory was opened in New York in 1735, and c.1750 the Jugtown pottery of North Carolina was first produced. Terra-cotta works were operating in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania after the middle of the 18th cent. Palatinate refugees produced slip-decorated and graffito earthenware, and their product formed the foundation of Shenandoah pottery. 

Modern Pottery: American art pottery flourished in the first half of the 20th cent., with works created by a variety of artisans. Many of the major artists of the 20th cent. created exquisite ceramic works. Especially notable are those by Picasso, Matisse, and Miró. In spite of the continuing development of mass-production techniques and synthetic materials, the demand for hand-crafted ware of fine quality has not diminished. A variety of artisans make utilitarian objects as well as works of art using many methods of pottery production.