Imports and Exports
International shipping in the 18th Century was expensive! European potters competed to replicate and market which imported ware type?
Porcelain
When identifying this ware type, you will likely note a blue-ish or sometimes green-ish hue in the glaze.
Pearlware
You're entering a sherd into DAACS that has been hand painted in multiple warm-toned colors. If only you could remember the term to describe this!
Polychrome
What came first? Whiteware or pearlware?
Pearlware's production date ranges from 1780-1840, whereas whiteware ranges from 1830-present.
You are holding a stoneware sherd. The glaze has a pocked texture, similar to an orange peel. Can you name that glaze?
It is salt-glazed.
Which 18th-19th Century stylistic element, commonly found on factory-made slipware, might resemble a tree?
Mocha Ware, created by applying an acidic solution onto a wet, alkaline-dipped surface, produces a chemical reaction resulting in a dendritic pattern that resembles trees!
You are examining a ceramic nose that is on display at Parker for all to see and admire! Where did this come from, and what is it?
This nose is an example of Edgefield stoneware, produced locally in South Carolina in the 19th Century by enslaved and, later, freed artisans. Many modern African American artists continue the tradition of replicating the style of Edgefield face jugs today!
Can you name at least two examples of designs found on factory-made annular ware?
(Bonus 25 points for each additional correct answer!)
A few examples: banded, corded, mocha, marbelized, rouletted, rilled/reeded, engine-turned, dipped, encrusted, and cat's eyes.
You are given a sherd with a light buff-colored paste that is soft and chalky in texture with no immediately visible inclusions. The tin enamel is very pale blue, poorly bonded, and flakes off easily. You know that it was produced somewhere in England between 1610-1800. What is this thing?
Delftware
How does Bristol glazed stoneware differ from salt glazed stoneware in appearance?
Bristol glaze is smooth, opaque, and white/cream in color. The vessel was often dipped twice, with the white bristol glaze covering the the majority of the vessel and the portion closest to the top being dipped in a transparent brown Albany slip.
When did English factories begin producing soft-paste porcelain?
English soft paste porcelain began production in the mid-18th Century.
Fun fact: In China, hard paste porcelain production predates soft paste porcelain.
In the 18th century, Wedgwood was commonly imported to the Americas from England for consumers seeking decorative and trendy tableware. Which ware type represented the majority of their sales?
Creamware. (Much of it being transfer printed)
The sherd that you are holding is unglazed. Its paste is smooth and fine-grained. It is completely black in color! Thankfully you have a rim sherd, so you can see that whatever it was, it had a molded decorative rim.
You are holding an example of black basalt stoneware!