Ceramic/China/Porcelain,Pottery Reference Links
   
Ceramic http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG0.htm
   
The art or process of making articles from clay by shaping  
and hardening thru firing.  
   
Transfer Printed Wares http://www.gpsf.com/ReferencesS.htm
   
Transfer printing allowed a potter to duplicate a pattern by  
transferring it from a copper plate to a ceramic vessel by use of a  
specially treated paper. John Brooks invented the process in 1751  
and it was perfected by Sadler and Green in 1756. The ceramic  
vessels used were Porcelain and Earthenwares. A particular type  
of the transferware process was the use of a single color transfer  
print with the addition of enamelling in bright colors in parts of the  
design. This process is called Polychrome Enamelling. Another  
process is the decoration of ceramic items with blue under-glaze  
designs having a smudge or blurred apparence rather than a crisp,  
sharp and clean pattern. The blue colors bleed or flow onto the  
white body of the ceramic at the time the glaze decoration is fired.  
The resultant wares are known as Flow Blue Wares. They are  
found in Semi-Porcelain, Stoneware and Porcelain.  
   
China http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG1.htm
   
Includes Soft Paste Porcelain, Soapstone Porcelain, Hard  
Paste Porcelain. From the 1750's on, all manner of wares which  
ressemble imported Chinese wares whether porcelain or pottery.  
   
Porcelain http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG2.htm
A translucent white substance made from paste containing  
kaolin and petuntse, vitreous and extremely tough, ringing with  
a metallic, echoing sound like glass when struck. Includes all  
translucent paste bodies.  
   
Bone China  
   
Porcelain developed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1794 from a  
combination of china clay, china stone and calcinated bones to a  
middle paste between hard and soft pastes. The mixture can also be  
described as that of kaolin, feldspar and bone ash.  
   
Chelsea Porcelain  
   
Soft paste wares decorated in the Oriental Style or Manner of  
Dresden or Sevres. Known for rich claret and dark blue colors.  
   
Pottery http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG3.htm
   
Earthenware, stoneware and all other bodies which do not  
possess the properties of porcelain. Includes all opaque bodies.  
   
Relief Moulded Wares  
   
Molded wares with the ability to cast decoration on the  
surface. They were molded using earthenwares and stonewares.  
   
Sprig Moulded Wares http://www.gpsf.com/jasper/ReferencesJ.htm
   
The process consists of pressing wet clay into a shallow  
mold, peeling out the resulting thin impression and attaching it  
to the surface of an item using liquid clay or slip. It was used on  
both earthenware and stoneware type bodies, the later being  
more effective.  
   
Earthenware http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG4.htm
   
Pottery made from natural clays which remain porous after  
firing and must be glazed to make them non-porous. Fired at least  
twice at low temperature.  
   
Aagate Ware  
   
Earthenware made of clays of different colors, either natural  
or colored with pigments, mixed and mingled to produce a  
marblized effect. Developed by Thomas Whieldon about 1750.  
   
Creamware(Queensware or Queen's Ware)  
   
A combination of cream-colored earthenware and a butter-  
colored opaque glaze, first made by Josiah Wedgwood in the  
early 1760's.  
   
Ironstone China  
   
A Fine-bodied white earthenware with slight translucency  
which was developed by Charles J. Mason in 1813 with a Patent  
name of "Mason's Patent Ironstone China".  
   
Pearlware  
   
Earthenware made by Josiah Wedgwood from about 1779. It  
contained a large proportion of calcinated flint and china clay.  
   
Prattware  
   
Earthenware made in Staffordshire between 1790 and 1830,  
named after Felix Pratt. Usually made in light-colored or buff clay,  
decorated under the glaze with a range of high temperature colors  
(metallic oxides) which can stand the heat of firing.  
   
Spatterware  
   
A crude soft paste which was highly colored with lively  
freehand decoration. Found on creamwares, rarely on Ironstone.  
   
   
Stone China  
   
First patented by John Turner of Lane End in 1880, and made  
by using felspathic stone or mineral which in turn produced a finely  
textured, dense, opaque body, heavy and durable with a slight  
blue-gray color.  
   
Terra Cotta  
   
Unglazed earthenware made from natural clays which were  
fired but still stayed porous.  
   
Stoneware http://www.gpsf.com/Staffdb/LibraryG5.htm
   
Pottery made from natural clays with additional vitreous  
substances such as sand or calcinated flint. The wares are  
rendered non-porous when fired and do not need glazing.  
   
Bamboo Ware  
   
A dry-bodied stoneware first made in circa 1787 by Josiah  
Wedgwood and containing Cornish china stone.  
   
Basaltes  
   
Fine grained stoneware stained black with manganese  
dioxide, fully vitreous. Developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the  
1770's as a refinement to Egyptian black. Basaltes are twice  
fired.  
   
Caneware  
   
A dry-bodied stoneware developed by Josiah Wedgwood  
at the end of the 1770's. Decorated with bright blue and green and  
as of 1800 with red.  
   
Jasper Ware http://www.gpsf.com/jasper/ReferencesJ.htm
   
A fine-grained white vitrified stoneware with translucent  
properties, being developed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1774. An  
applied relief in white jasper was added. Solid Jasper and Jasper  
Dip were two methods of coloring the Jasper.  
   
Majolica  
   
Invented by Minton in 1851, the wares were made from a fine  
body dipped in tin glaze and painted in brillant colors before  
firing, as well as being pressed and molded in high relief decoration.  
   
Rossa Antico  
   
Wedgwood's version of Red Stoneware in a better color,  
often engine-tuned.  
   


Last Updated on 2/9/01
By Lesley Michael Lorant