man’s quest for civilization. some of the oldest pottery has been found in japan and china, dated...
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MAN’S QUEST FOR CIVILIZATION
POTTERY THROUGH TIME
Some of the oldest pottery has been found in Japan and China, dated to at least 16,000 and 20,000 years old respectively.
Pottery has also been of value as historical and literary records; ancient Assyrian and Babylonian writings have been inscribed upon clay tablets. Simple geometric patterns in monochrome, polychrome, or incised work are common to pottery of prehistoric and primitive cultures.
EARLY HISTORY
POTTERY FRAGMENT
A pottery
vessel's
fragment, date
back to 20,000
BP. They were
discovered in
Xianrendong
cave in Jiangxi,
China.
ANCIENT POTTERY
An Incipient
Jōmon pottery
vessel
reconstructed
from
fragments
(10,000-8,000
BC), Tokyo
National
Museum,
Japan
Assyrian and Babylonian writings
Cuneiform is a
system of writing first
developed by the
ancient Sumerians of
Mesopotamia
c. 3500-3000 BCE. It
is considered
the most significant
among the many
cultural contributions
of the Sumerians and
the greatest among
those of the
Sumerian city of
Uruk which advanced
the writing of
cuneiform c. 3200
BCE.
By 1500 B.C. the use of glazes, such as the famous greens and blues, was known in Egypt. Especially noteworthy is the early Aegean pottery of the Minoan and Mycenaean periods with its curvilinear, painted decoration. 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.
Pottery of the Ancient Mediterranean
Egyptian
Lotus Chalice
(siliceous
faience) 22nd
Dynasty, 945-
715 BC
Louvre
Egyptian Glaze
Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate
Babylon was a show-
place, so the
architects of the
time adorned the
facades of their
buildings with
painted glazed
bricks, with the
most grandiose
effects on the
magnificent
constructions lining
the wide Procession
Street, in the Ishtar
Gate itself, and the
palace of
Nebuchadrezzar.
Ishtar Gate Detail
Lion Detail
The Greek vases (800–300 B.C.), famous for symmetry of form and beauty of decoration, include red, black, and varicolored examples. The last were for tombs only, as the colors were painted, unfired, and easily marred. The red ware is decorated with black figures, or the ground is black and the figures shown red. Water, oil, and wine jars were numerous. Of the Greco-Roman wares, the Arretine or Samian, also a red ware, was molded after first being turned on the wheel to the size of the mold, which carried the decoration in intaglio.
Pottery of the Ancient Mediterranean
Classical Greek Pottery
Attributed to the
Marlay Painter
(Attic vase
painter, active ca.
450-ca. 420 b.c.)
Greek, Attic
Terracotta
Roman Red Gloss Pottery
A decorated
Arretine vase
(Form
Dragendorff 11)
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 (A.D. 581–618) and the T'ang period (618–906), porcelain and porcelaneous ware (the envy of the Western world) began to be made and exported to Korea and Japan and to the Islamic world. Technical knowledge, however, was not exchanged, and Islam made no true porcelain.
Pottery of Asia
Neolithic Period in China
A basin cover for
a "coffin urn"
from the
Neolithic
Yangshao culture
(c. 5000 – c. 3000
BC), used for the
burial of a child,
from Shaanxi.
Tang Dynasty China
Two lead glazed
pitchers showing
whitish slip on
pale grey bodies.
Tang
Chinese Porcelain
Song Dynasty
celadon porcelain
with a fenghuang
spout, 10th
century, China.
Islamic pottery making was centered at Baghdad in the 10th cent. Blue and green clear glazes were used, and lusterware was first employed as an overglaze. Lusterware was highly developed under the Fatimites in Egypt (969–1171), and the technique continued in use at major pottery centers over the centuries that followed. During the 13th cent. Mongol domination of Persia brought renewed Chinese influence to Islamic pottery making. Fine examples of Hispano-Moorish pottery date from the 14th cent. Islamic architecture in the 15th cent. utilized ceramic tile in immense quantities, as on the Blue Mosque at Tabriz.
Pottery of Asia
Islamic Pottery
Islamic pottery.
10th-century dish
from East Persia
Islamic Art
Detail of the
"Baptistère de
Saint-Louis,"
13th-14th
century, Mamluk,
today in the
Louvre.
Islamic Art
Interior of Blue
Kabud Mosque -
Tabriz - Iranian
Azerbaijan - Iran
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 (where it was called faience), and to Holland (where it came to be known as delftware ). Majolica and stoneware were the main pottery forms in Europe until the advent (18th cent.) of porcelain.
Pottery of Europe
Pottery of Europe
Medieval
stoneware
pottery Siegburg
Germany 15th
century
Pottery of Europe
Beautiful J.
Holdcroft English
Majolica lily pond
design
rectangular
handled serving
tray. Holds
impressed J.
HOLDCROFT
marks to bottom.
19th century.
Pottery of Europe
Delftware was a
huge success and
by the 18th
century, there
were more than
30 companies
creating high-
quality pieces in
Delft, Holland.
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.
Pottery of the Americas
Ancient Peruvian Pottery
Pre-Columbian
Peru,
Lambayeque
Blackware Dual
Spout Naymlap
Vessel
Ancient Mexican Pottery
Mimbres Classic
Black-on-white
bowl from the
Osborn site, Luna
County,
Southwest American Pottery
Throughout
prehistory in the
American
Southwest people
used clay for
many purposes-to
build structures,
to line cooking
hearths, to
plaster and
decorate ...
In Philadelphia fine china was made (1769) for the first time in America. The potteries of Bennington, Vt., which opened in 1793, were known especially for their stoneware jugs; a variety of stoneware was also produced in several locations in New York state. East Liverpool, Ohio, since 1839 one of the foremost centers of the industry, produced the first American Rockingham ware. Also widely produced in the United States were redware, ironstone, and yellowware. Another center, begun in 1852 at Trenton, N.J., made fine Belleek or eggshell china. The Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago did much to awaken native consciousness of pottery as a form of art.
Pottery of the Americas
Early American China
Pitcher, Tucker
Factory
(Philadelphia,
1826-38)
Bennington Pottery
J. & E. Norton-
Bennington
Standing Deer -
1860
Rockingham Pottery
E. & W. Bennett
Rockingham
Ware,. American .
Belleek China
American art pottery flourished in the first half of the 20th cent., with works created by a variety of artisans, many of whom were employed by companies such as the Rookwood Pottery and Cincinnati Art Pottery. Much collected in the decades that followed, this art pottery was created in such styles as art nouveau, arts and crafts, and art deco. In addition, many of the major artists of the 20th cent. created exquisite ceramic works. Especially notable are those by Picasso, Matisse, and Miro. 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. Moreover, indigenous peoples, notably native Americans, continue to create a number of vessels adapted from traditional forms.
Modern Pottery
Rookwood Pottery
Example of one of
Rookwood’s many
glaze techniques
Cincinnati Art Pottery
Sample of a
variety of finished
pieces by
Cincinnati Art
Pottery
Pablo Picasso
Madura
Sculpture
Joan Miro
Stoneware -
1946
How can pottery capture a moment in history?
What does pottery tell us about the advancement of civilization?
Essential Questions