Clay shaped by hand or wheel and made permanent by fire: the craft behind every bowl, jug and tile before industry, and behind the studio ceramics movement since. Pottery is humanity's oldest synthetic material, older than agriculture, and the potter's wheel, the kiln and the glaze are among the deepest tool traditions any craft carries. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Earliest Evidence (Circa)Ceramic figurines circa 29,000 years before present (Dolni Vestonice); the oldest known pottery vessels circa 20,000 years before present (Xianren Cave, China) 1 OriginThe very earliest fired-clay objects were not containers at all: Gravettian figurines such as the Venus of Dolni Vestonice, fired roughly 27,000 years ago, predate the earliest known pottery vessels, found at Xianren Cave in China, by several thousand years. Firing distinguishes pottery types as much as clay does: stoneware is fired in a kiln at roughly 1,100 to 1,200 degrees Celsius and comes out strong and non-porous, unlike lower-fired earthenware. 1 FAQs
What temperature is stoneware fired at?
Roughly 1,100 to 1,200 degrees Celsius.
Stoneware is fired in a kiln at roughly 1,100 to 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,010 to 2,190 Fahrenheit), which makes it strong and non-porous to liquids, unlike lower-fired earthenware.
Connections
Associated With
The V&A holds dedicated Ceramics Galleries and one of the world's largest and most comprehensive ceramics collections.
Source Victoria and Albert Museum (Wikipedia)
Japanese ceramics carried the wabi-sabi outlook into asymmetry and unpredictable ash glazes.
Source Wabi-sabi (Wikipedia)
Has Figure
Source Bernard Leach (Wikipedia)
Source Maria Martinez (Wikipedia)
Source Shoji Hamada (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Pottery (Wikipedia)
Tools Used
Source Ball Mill (Wikipedia)
Source Dictionary.com: Blunger definition
Source Dictionary.com: Jigger definition
Kiln Furniture is used in Pottery.
Source Kiln furniture (Wikipedia)
Source Digitalfire Reference Library: Plaster Bat
Source Potter's Wheel (Wikipedia)
Pottery Gauge is used in Pottery.
Source Dictionary.com: Pug Mill definition
Pugmill is used in Pottery.
Pyrometric Cone is used in Pottery.
Source Pyrometric Cone (Wikipedia)
Source Saggar (Wikipedia)
Source Dictionary.com: Stilt definition
Sources
1. Pottery (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery, History section
The earliest known ceramic objects are Gravettian figurines, such as those discovered at Dolni Vestonice
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery, Stoneware section
Stoneware is pottery that has been fired in a kiln at a relatively high temperature, from about 1,100 °C (2,010 °F) to 1,200 °C (2,190 °F), and is strong and non-porous to liquids.
View the Source Ball Mill (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTools Used: Ball Mill (Ceramics), Applications sectionQuote, Tools Used: Ball Mill (Ceramics), Applications section
Ball mills are used for grinding materials such as mining ores, coal, pigments, and feldspar for pottery.
Dictionary.com: Pug Mill definition
Dictionary.comTools Used: Pug Mill, DefinitionQuote, Tools Used: Pug Mill, Definition
grinding and mixing materials, as clay
Dictionary.com: Blunger definition
Dictionary.comTools Used: Blunger, DefinitionQuote, Tools Used: Blunger, Definition
esp clay and water
Dictionary.com: Jigger definition
Dictionary.comTools Used: Jigger (Pottery), Definition entry, Ceramics senseQuote, Tools Used: Jigger (Pottery), Definition entry, Ceramics sense
a machine for forming plates or the like in a plaster mold rotating beneath a template
Dictionary.com: Stilt definition
Dictionary.comTools Used: Stilt (Ceramics), Definition entry, Ceramics senseQuote, Tools Used: Stilt (Ceramics), Definition entry, Ceramics sense
a three-armed support for an object being fired
Pyrometric Cone (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTools Used: Pyrometric Cone, Lead sectionQuote, Tools Used: Pyrometric Cone, Lead section
used to gauge heatwork during the firing of ceramic materials in a kiln
Kiln furniture (Wikipedia)
Tools Used: Kiln Furniture, Lead sectionQuote, Tools Used: Kiln Furniture, Lead section
such as pottery, other ceramic or metal components
Saggar (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTools Used: Saggar, Lead sectionQuote, Tools Used: Saggar, Lead section
used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln
Digitalfire Reference Library: Plaster Bat
Digitalfire Reference LibraryTools Used: Plaster Bat, Glossary entry, DetailsQuote, Tools Used: Plaster Bat, Glossary entry, Details
Plaster bats are employed primarily for making pottery on a potters wheel.
Open Questions (1 open question)
When was porcelain, as distinct from stoneware, first made in China?
Chinese tradition never classified porcelain apart from stoneware, grouping both as high-fired ware against low-fired earthenware, so no historical record marks the moment a recognizably distinct porcelain first appeared.
What would resolve this A materials study fixing when Chinese high-fired ceramics first meet the translucency and composition thresholds used to define porcelain today.
ceramic materials sciencePottery (Wikipedia)
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