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Definition: pottery from Philip's Encyclopedia

Objects shaped of clay and hardened by fire or dried in the sun. The making of pottery is dependent on the plasticity and durability of clay after firing. The finished object can be divided into three categories: earthenware, the ordinary pottery dating from primitive times, baked at 700°C (1,292°F) or lower; stoneware, fired at up to 1,150°C (2,102°F), less porous, and until modern times produced more commonly in the Far East than in Europe; and porcelain, fired at 1400°C (2552°F). After a clay pot is formed and dried, it is fired in a kiln; glaze is applied, and the pot is refired. See also ceramic

pottery

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
the baked-clay wares of the entire ceramics field. For a description of the nature of the material, see clay . It usually falls into three main classes—porous-bodied pottery, stoneware , and porcelain . Raw clay is transformed into a porous pottery when it is heated to a temperature of about 500 degrees Celsius. This pottery, unlike sun-dried clay, retains a permanent shape and does not disintegrate in water. Stoneware is produced by raising the temperature, and porcelain is baked at still greater heat. In this process part of the clay becomes vitrified, or glassy, and the strength of the pottery is increased. Pottery is formed while clay is in its plastic form. Either a long piece of clay is coiled and then smoothed, or the clay is centered upon a potter's wheel (used in Egypt before 4000 B.C. ) that spins the clay while it is being shaped by the hand, or thrown. Decoration may be incised, and the piece is allowed to dry to a state of leather hardness before firing it in a kiln . The…
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The countries and regions that embraced early Islam were ideally located to absorb the cultural, commercial, and technical cross-currents of the early medieval world. Chinese commodities were one of the major influences in Islamic lands – an area that stretched from India to the Atlantic Ocean. …
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Although pottery production dates from Neolithic times, most surviving examples – and certainly those available to most collectors, rather than in museums – will date from after the early Middle Ages. The brilliant potters of the Islamic world developed a number of innovative techniques, most…
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Full text Article POTTERY and PORCELAIN

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
The earliest shards of pottery discovered in Wales are fragments of coarse earthenware excavated from Neolithic sites such as the Tinkinswood burial chamber ( St Nicholas ). The burial sites of the early Bronze Age Beaker folk have yielded more elaborate pottery, often ornamented with zigzag…
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Full text Article CERAMICS AND POTTERY

From Encyclopedia of Archaeology
Ceramics, including pottery, are one of the most ubiquitous artifact categories recovered from archaeological sites. Archaeologists use ceramics to answer questions about the dating of sites, changes in technology, economic organization, identity, status, ideology, and the movement and/or…
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The Chinese Neolithic cultures of the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc are known to have produced pottery wares, and glazes were first used – perhaps accidentally – at the end of the 2nd millennium bc . The development of wares fired at over 1200°C (2220°F) during the Han Dynasty (206 bc–ad 220 ) signalled…
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Full text Article pottery

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
the baked-clay wares of the entire ceramics field. For a description of the nature of the material, see clay . It usually falls into three main classes—porous-bodied pottery, stoneware , and porcelain . Raw clay is transformed into a porous pottery when it is heated to a temperature of about 500…
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Full text Article Pottery

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
The manufacture of containers or artworks from clay heated to at least 932° Fahrenheit. Pottery is one of the oldest crafts performed by humans to shape clay into containers or artistic expressions. Ancient cultures shaped idols, bowls, and other decorative forms of pottery, which they often…
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Full text Article Pottery

From 1001 Inventions: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Civilization
For more than a thousand years, Muslim lands produced some of the world's finest ceramics and pottery. They were traded, bought as ornaments, and used domestically in cooking, lighting, and washing. A millennium later, these pots have been turning up in European archaeological digs. Pot making was a…
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Full text Article Greek pottery

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Pottery made in ancient Greece. Its painted decoration has become the primary source of information about the development of Greek pictorial art. It was made in a variety of sizes and shapes, according to its intended use; large vessels were used for storage and transportation of liquids (wine, …
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Full text Article pottery, ancient Greek

From Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World
Also known as: vases The term Greek pottery refers mainly to ceramic vessels—storage jars, drinking cups, mixing bowls, plates, and the like—shaped from wet clay on a potter's wheel and fired to brittleness in a kiln heated to about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to hardening the pot, the…
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