Pottery, China and Ceramics
Stoneware, Earthenware, China and Porcelain are all Names for Dishes
Pottery has been around almost as long as people, and done more for domestic comfort than any development since. No wonder it has so many confusing names!
The Many Names of Pottery
Almost as long as there have been people, there has been pottery. The discovery that clay becomes durable and waterproof when subjected to heat has added as much to the quality of domestic life as any discovery since. And unless you live with dozens of clumsy children, chances are your meals are served on pottery dishes, the types available almost as varied as the foods served on them. Not surprising then, that something so ancient and ubiquitous would go by so many names, including stoneware, ceramics, porcelain, crockery, bone china, earthenware, terra cotta, and majolica.
Untangling the Terminology
Let's untangle the terminology, with pottery being the catch-all phrase for anything made of hardened (fired) clay, including dishes, decorative items (such as figurines and vases), and flowerpots. Industrial uses include insulators, toilets, laboratory ware, bakeware, and chimney pots. Another word for pottery is ceramic; from the Greek word KERAMOS, which refers both to the finished product and the raw clay used to make it. (Teach Yourself Pottery by John Gale.)
It Starts with Clay. . .
There are three types of pottery, and they are defined by the clay used to make them, and the temperature needed to fire them. Earthenware is the softest and is fired at the lowest temperature. It is easily scratched and porous and includes the Lu Ray or Fiesta dinner plate on which tonight's meatloaf was served. Dishes of this type require a vitreous coating that is fired on (glaze) to make them impervious. The clay used for earthenware is red in its natural state, but can also be white, cream or pink. This category encompasses all primitive pottery, terra cotta, 16th century and older Chinese and Japanese pottery, and European pottery manufactured up to the seventeenth century.
Stoneware
Stoneware is so named because of its dense, stone-like quality after firing. It is glazed for hygienic and/or aesthetic reasons, but is impermeable in its unglazed state. Stoneware clays are favored by artists, especially those making one-of-a-kind pieces by hand, but production potteries such as McCoy also used stoneware clays. This clay is grey in its natural state, and buff colored after firing. The salt-glazed stoneware of Europe of the fifteenth century, and the utilitarian stoneware produced in great quantities in England at the beginning of the 20th century fall into this category. This type of clay is also used for industrial products.
Porcelain
Porcelain is hard and impermeable, but also translucent. Fine dinnerware and decorative objects are frequently made of porcelain clay or its cousin, bone china (so called because calcified bone is added to the raw clay mixture and because the first translucent china came from China). Porcelain clays are white grading to cream when raw, and white when fired, bone china clay is white when raw. Both are white after firing. The art of porcelain production was developed in China during the Tang Dynasty (Ad 618-906). Its formula was a closely guarded secret, and it wasn't until the beginning of the 18th century in Meissen, Germany that manufacturers finally learned the process. Bone china was developed in Staffordshire, England by Josiah Spode in about 1770, and his company in one of its many manifestations, is still producing fine china today.
Bibliography
Clark, Kenneth The Potters' Manual Chartwell Books 1987
Gale, John Teach Yourself Pottery NTC Publishing 1997
Kovels, Ralph & Terry Kovels Antiques & Collectibles 2002 Three Rivers Press
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
