Pottery

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Definition

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery (plural "potteries"). Pottery is made by forming the clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln to induce reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape.

The earliest-known ceramic objects are Gravettian figurines such as those discovered at Dolni Vestonice in the modern-day Czech Republic. The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a nude female figure dated to 29,000–25,000 BCE. The earliest pottery vessels found include those excavated from the Yuchanyan Cave in southern China, dated from 16,000 BCE, and those found in the Amur River basin in the Russian Far East, dated from 14,000 BCE. 

The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and 4,000 BCE (Ubaid period) revolutionized pottery production. Specialized potters were then able to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities.

Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished. Last reviewed by Jan van der Crabben on 03 August 2011. Please help and improve this definition!

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Articles

Article

Firing Athenian black and red figure vases

by Jan van der Crabben
published on 02 August 2011
A distinctive red and black colour scheme characterises most of the painted pottery of sixth- and fifth-century Athens. The colours result from the skilful exploitation of the high iron content of Athenian clay by an ingenious process of differential firing. The black areas of a black or red-figured pot were coated in a fine solution of the same clay... [continue reading]
Article

Greek vase painters and potters

by Jan van der Crabben
published on 02 August 2011
We know the names of some potters and painters of Greek vases because they signed their work. Generally a painter signed his name followed by some form of the verb 'painted', while a potter (or perhaps the painter writing for him) signed his name with 'made'. Sometimes the same person might both pot and paint: Exekias and Epiktetos... [continue reading]
Article

Greek vases: names, shapes and functions

by Jan van der Crabben
published on 02 August 2011
The system of names used today for Greek vases has quite rightly been described by one leading scholar as 'chaotic'. Many of the names were first applied in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by scholars who tried to fit the names of pots that they knew from Greek and Latin literature or inscriptions to the pieces then surfacing from excavations... [continue reading]
Article

Making and decorating Athenian black- and red-figure vases

by Jan van der Crabben
published on 02 August 2011
The first stage in making a pot is to dig the clay out of the ground. Pieces of grit or plant matter must be removed before the clay can be used. This was done in ancient times, as it is today, by mixing the clay with water and letting the heavier impurities sink to the bottom. This process could be carried out as many times as necessary. When judged... [continue reading]
Article

A Visual Glossary of Greek Pottery

by Mark Cartwright
published on 22 March 2013
Alabastron (pl. alabastra) - a small jar for storing perfumes, named after the material (alabaster) the first examples were made from. They were often carried by a string looped around the neck of the vessel. Amphora (pl. amphorae) - one of the most common forms in Greek pottery, various shapes, always with two vertical neck-handles and... [continue reading]
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Timeline

Visual Timeline
  • prehistoric
    Gravettian figurines including the Venus of Dolní Věstonice.
  • prehistoric
    First pottery vessels and tools produced in southern China,fire in use
  • 14000 BCE
    Pottery production at the Amur River in modern-day Russia.
  • 6500 BCE
    First pottery in the Near East.
  • 5500 BCE
    Oldest faience workshop in Egypt founded at Abydos.
  • c. 2000 BCE
    Pottery wheel introduced to Minoan civilization on Crete.
  • c. 1000 BCE
    The first distinctive Greek pottery is produced, the Proto-geometric style.
  • c. 900 BCE
    The Geometric style of Greek pottery is first produced.
  • c. 625 BCE
    Black-figure pottery created in Corinth.
  • c. 625 BCE - 600 BCE
    The orientalizing style of Greek pottery becomes popular in Corinth.
  • c. 620 BCE - 600 BCE
    Proto-corinthian reaches its zenith in artistic quality producing the best pottery in Greece.
  • 600 BCE - 480 BCE
    Attic black-figure pottery dominates the greek ceramic market.
  • c. 570 BCE - c. 560 BCE
    The black-figure Francois Vase is produced in Attica by Ergotimos (potter) and Kleitias (painter).
  • 560 BCE - 520 BCE
    Chalkidian black-figure pottery is produced in southern Italy.
  • 545 BCE - 530 BCE
    Exekias, perhaps the greatest black-figure pottery painter is active.
  • c. 530 BCE
    Red-figure pottery style takes precedent over black-figure.
  • 530 BCE
    The Andokides Painter invents red-figure pottery.
  • 320 BCE
    Last recorded examples of Attic Red-Figure Pottery.