The History of Ceramic Pottery

1. The History of Ceramic Pottery

2. Ceramic Timeline • 35,000-7,000 B.C. Paleolithic Age9500 B.C. Japan, Fired Vessels6000 B.C. Middle East4500 B.C. Mesopotamia4000 B.C. Middle East, The First Cities3000 B.C. The First Pottery Made in South America2700 B.C. The First Glaze, Egypt2655 B.C. Banshan Culture, China2500-1500 B.C. Jomon Period, Japan2500 B.C. Wheel Throwing in China2500--1100 B.C. Minoan Culture, Crete2000 B.C. First Pottery Made in Middle America2000 B.C. Glassmaking, Middle East1600-1100 B.C. Shang Dynasty, China1500 B.C.-A.D. 300 Formative Period, Middle America1200-500 B.C. Olmec Culture, Middle America1100-400 B.C. Chavin Culture, South America900-500 B.C. Earliest Lead Glazing, Middle East1000-300 B.C. Classic Shapes, Greek Pottery700 B.C. Black Figure Technique, Greece600 B.C. Red Figure Technique, Greece700-400 B.C. Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Italy600 B.C. Tin-Lead Glazes, Middle East300 B.C.-A.D. 1400 Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Africa221-202 B.C. Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Qin Dynasty, China206 B.C.-A.D. 221 Han Dynasty, China57 B.C.-A.D. 935 Silla Period, Korea100-700 The Mochia Culture, South America200 Feldspathic Glazes, Yueh Wae, China200 B.C.-A.D.476 The Roman Empire, Europe200-600 Haniwa Figures, Japan300-980 Classic Period, Teotihuacan, Mexico618-906 Tang Dynasty, China632-1150 Early Islamic Wares, Middle East800-1400 Southwest Indian, North America • 950-1035 Mayan Post-Classic Period, Middle America918-1382 The Koryo Dynasty, Korea1000 Early Stoneware, Germany960-1279 The Song Dynasty, China960-1127 North Song, China1128-1279 Southern Song, China1150-1350 Medieval Islamic Period, Middle East1200-1450 Chimu Culture, South America1200-1521 The Axtecs, Central America1450-1550 Inca Culture, South America1200- Hispano-Moresque Wares, Spain1556 First Books on Pottery Written, Italy1230-1600 Tin-glazed Earthenware, Italy1350-1900 Late Islamic Period, Middle East1368-1644 The Ming Dynasty, China1392-1910 Choson Period, Korea1400-1900 Tea Ceramics, Raku Ware, Japan1400 Salt-glazed Stoneware, Germany1500 Tin-glazed Earthenware, France1500 First Delftware, Holland1575-1804 Soft-paste Porcelain, Europe1600-1750 Staffordshire Slipware, England1616 Arita Ware, Japan1708 European Porcelain1644-1912 Ch'ing Dynasty, China1700-1850 Industrialization of Potteries, Great Britain1850-1910 The Arts and Crafts Movement, Great Britain1800-1920 The Arts and Crafts Movement, United States1895-1905 Art Nouveau, France1890-Present Pueblo Pottery Revival, United States1900-1940 The Modern MovementThe Bauhaus School, GermanyThe Modern Movement, England1920's The Studio Potter/Folk PotteryMid 1900's Transition to Clay as Art1946-1953 Pablo Picasso, France1954-1964 Abstract Expressionism, Otis Influence, United StatesAlfred Influence, United States1960-1970's Funk and Fake ArtLate Twentieth Century Contemporary ClayEarly Twenty-First Century Current Trends

3. The Basket and the Pot • In some ancient communities it is believed that basket making lead to the discovery of clay pottery. • Baskets were made of strong plant life for heavy loads. They were lined with animal skins to carry water.

4. The Basket and the Pot • At some point, probably before 7000 B.C., someone discovered an easier, less wasteful, way to waterproof a basket - by smearing the inside with a layer of stiff mud or clay.

5. A New “Basket” No one really knows when or who first started to use the new technology of ceramics, but most speculate that it was discovered by some prehistoric person; perhaps that person smeared a basket with clay and set it too near a fire. When the basket burned, the clay hardened. Perhaps it happened when a home or village burned.

6. Earliest Pottery

7. The Beginnings of Pottery • Clay animal and fertility figures found at a site in the Czech Republic estimated to be around thirty thousand years old are the earliest discovered pottery. • Clay sculptures of bison discovered in the Tuc d’ Audobert Cave in France are thought to be about fourteen thousand years old.

8. The Venus • Made of clay and bone ash, this is the tiny baked clay figurine is known as the "Venus" of Dolni Vestonice. It is thought to be about 29,000 years old and have been fired in a beehive shaped kiln in a Stone Age village.

9. East Asia Pottery • Vast improvements in the process of creating and decorating pottery began in the countries of East Asia, especially China, Japan and Korea. • China lead the way with the development of porcelain and numerous technical and artistic innovations that influenced the world.

10. Japanese Pottery History • Ten Thousand years of Jomon • The porous, coiled earth ware pottery of Japan called Jomon spanned more than ten thousand years, from about 12,000 B.C. to 2000 B.C and is the oldest carbon dated pottery in the world. • The term Jomon means cord mark in Japanese and refers to the distinctive pattern made by pressing cord on the surface of clay as decoration.

11. Jomon Continued • Early Jomon pottery was dominated by deep vessels that are flower pot shape. • Middle Jomon period decorations included serpents and other animal heads wounded around the rims that some became unbalanced. • Late Jomon period was distinguished by deep incising or grooving that were filled with cord marks and with burnished surfaces.

12. Progress in Japanese Pottery • The spread of agriculture, the use of primitive wheel turning in the making of pottery and the start of metal working characterized the Yayoi period in Japan (300 B.C. to A.D. 300) • Yayoi potters created new vessels that were smoother, more balanced and less porous. • During the Haniwa or tumulus period( A.D. 200 to 600) clay figures were placed around tombs in underground burial chambers. • The Japanese also made progress in firing of pottery by adopting anagama kilns from the Koreans and Chinese. Being able to create higher temperatures was important to the development of stronger, higher quality pottery.

13. Buddhism, lead Glaze and Pottery Centers • By the 14th Century pottery production centers were established in locations throughout Japan and each developed a specialty. • The raku technique was developed at this time and is still used today to create very shiny pottery. • Once Buddhism was introduced in the sixth century it influenced all aspects of Japanese life. • Chinese lead glaze pottery became popular in the 7th century and 8th century but by 11th centuries the Chinese influence declined and the Japanese pottery became floral quiet designs.

14. Discovery of Kaolin • The Chinese had been manufacturing porcelain for many years by the time the Japanese discovered deposits of Kaolin clay at Arita on the island of Kyushu in the early 17th century. • The first Japanese porcelain, known as Imari ware and produced mainly for export, was decorated in blue and white. • By the middle of the 19th century most pottery in Japan was produced for export and used simple designs for mass appeal.

15. Chinese Pottery History • Advancements from China in the production and development of pottery cannot be underestimated. • China’s Earliest Pottery was first produced in the yellow river valley in northern china and the pottery were simple coil built earthen ware.

16. Chinese Pottery History • The first feldspathic glaze occurred during the Shang dynasty and it combined feldspar and wood ash. • This produced greenish pottery. • In year 907 during the Tang dynasty there was a popular style called the three Tang color which included more than three colors.

17. Chinese Pottery History • Porcelain reached its highest development during the Sung Dynasty in year 960 to 1280. • Ting ware during this period was very popular: bowls, plates, jars and pots coated in ivory glaze and the rims were branded with copper.

18. Korean Pottery History • A distinctive form of Korean ware from the rest of Asia in an inlay technique known a Mishima. • Here you pierced the clay then glazed black and white under celadon glaze. Overall As pottery making developed in East Asia, it also thrived simultaneously in the Middle East.

19. The Near and Middle East

20. The Near and Middle East • This includes the countries of Mesopotamia now (Iraq), Persia now (Iran), Syria, Anatolia now(Turkey) and Egypt. • All of the earliest forms of pottery from this region are simple, coiled vases.

21. The Near and Middle East • Fired clay figurine about 2.5 inches high. Made about 7000 BC. from Tepe Sarab a prehistoric village site in Western Iran.

22. The Near and Middle East • This tiny fired clay image of a wild boar c.7000 BC. was also from Tepe Sarab in Iran

23. The Near and Middle East • Enthroned goddess in baked clay. c.5500 BC. Possibly giving birth. Two leopard-like heads on either side. - Çatal Hüyük - Anatolia Turkey.

24. The Near and Middle East • Clay Vessels from as early as 8000-6000 B.C. WERE DISCOVERED AT Latal Hyuck in Anatolia. • They created deep bowls and hole mouth jars. • They had light colors and burnished surfaces no decoration and were wood fired. 

25. The Near and Middle East • Ancient Cultures in Mesopotamia made 2 distinct types of pottery: • Bowls and rounded jars with plain engraved line patterns • Vessels called Samarra ware with decoration painted on.

26. The Near and Middle East • Samarra ware had painted geometric patterns as well as human/animals in red/black around 5000 B.C. • Halfa type dish found at Arpachiyah North Iraq c.5000 BC.