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 Ceramics
Glossary
If you
are a just starting to collect pottery or porcelain you will come
across many terms that are unfamiliar. The selection below should
help.
Basalt - Black stained stoneware
Bellarmine - Originally from Germany, this is a dull coloured
vitreous stoneware flagon with a bearded mask relief
Biscuit - an unglazed piece of earthenware,
stoneware or paste that has been fired once
Bisque - unglazed frit ivory coloured
porcelain figures
Blanc de chine - white glazed porcelain
Body - unfired pottery
Bone china - developed at the end of the 18th century,
this paste is made using china clay
Bone porcelain - Bone ash is added to soft
paste to increase translucence, strength and whiteness
China - pottery or porcelain resembline Chinese ceramics
Chinese export - Chinese ceramics made for export to the
West
Crazing - A network of fine lines found on ceramics where
the glaze and paste have reacted differently to changes in conditions
Creamware - earthenware covered with
a cream coloured glaze
Delftware - originating in Holland, this is a
tin-glazed earthenware
 Do
you want to know more about American ceramics? If you do,
Warman's
American Pottery & Porcelain
gives information on almost 150 different US potteries, in alphabetical
order, and has nearly 12,000 price listings.
Earthenware
- pottery that has been fired to make it hard
Faience - Usually from France, this is tin-glazed
earthenware
Famille rose - originally this referred to Chinese porcelain
that had rose coloured decoration derived from using gold chloride
and tin chloride in the enamel. English potters adopted the term
but they got their colour from manganese oxide. Eventually the
term was used for any piece with mainly rose coloured decoration.
Collezione Di Maioliche
Libero Patrignani
Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com
Famille verte
- again this originally came from China and refers to the green
enamel decoration.
Felspar porcelain - a bone china
paste used by Spode in the 18th century
Flatware - plates, dishes made in a mould
Frit - various substances are used to
make a glassy compound which is added to porcelain pastes and
glazes
Glaze - a shiny non-porous coating on pottery and porcelain
Ground - the basic main colour of a piece, usually applied
under the glaze
Hard paste porcelain - the glaze is fused to the paste
so making this a very strong porcelain
Hollow ware - pots, jugs, mugs, bowls, made on a potter's
wheel
Imari - patterns used on English porcelain in imitation
of Japanese Export. The patterns and colours come from the rich
brocaded Japanese silks.
Ironstone - slightly translucent earthenware made with
felspar
Japanese export - Japanese wares made for export to the
West
Jasperware - Stoneware that has
been stained with colour going right through the body. Wedgwood
is the best known maker of this.
Kaolin - china clay
Lustreware - pottery or porcelain that has been given a
metallic finish so producing a pearl like lustrous sheen
Maiolica - Italian brightly decorated tin glazed earthenware
Majolica - the English version of Maiolica made by Minton
Parian - translucent porcelain made with felspar
Paste - the basic raw material of porcelain
 Salt
Glaze Coffee Pot
Solon
Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com
Salt glaze - this glaze
was produced by throwing salt into the kiln during firing of stoneware.
The salt vapourised and was deposited on the items producing a
glassy looking effect.
Slip - diluted wet clay, used to stick handles, etc on
to the body of a pot
Slipware - Earthenware decorated with
natural coloured slip
Soft paste porcelain - an English
porcelain produced in imitation of Chinese porcelain. The English
version used, amongst other things, frit.
Stoneware - earthenware
made harder by either added or naturally occurring vitreous elements.
Tin glaze - made from a lead base
with tin oxide added to produce a brilliant white glassy finish
Transfer printing - a print transferred to pottery or porcelain
Under glaze - colour added at the biscuit
stage before the final glazing
Vitreous stoneware - earthenware that
does not need glazing. It is fired at higher temperatutes than
pottery and has a hard impervious surface
Copyright
© 2002 by Carol Fisher All Rights
Reserved
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