pottery summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see pottery.

famille rose porcelain vase — *famille rose* porcelain vaseFamille rose porcelain vase of *yangcai* ware, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign (1722–35); in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

pottery, One of the oldest and most widespread of the decorative arts, consisting chiefly of functional objects (such as vessels, plates, and bowls) made of clay and hardened with heat. Earthenware is the oldest and simplest form; stoneware is fired at a high temperature to cause it to vitrify and harden; and porcelain is a fine, generally translucent form of pottery. The Chinese began their sophisticated production of pottery in the Neolithic Period and produced porcelain as early as the 7th century ce. Chinese porcelain, or “china,” was widely exported to Europe and had a profound influence on European manufacturers and on taste. Classical Greek and Islamic cultures are also known for their artistic and technical innovations in pottery.

Chelsea soft-paste porcelain vase in the French Rococo style of Sèvres ware with “mazarin blue” ground and a “reserve” panel painting by John Donaldson (after François Boucher), gold anchor mark, c. 1763; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Chelsea porcelain Summary

Chelsea porcelain, soft-paste porcelain made at a factory in Chelsea, London, established in 1743 by Charles Gouyn and Nicolas Sprimont, the latter a silversmith. By the 1750s the sole manager was Sprimont, from whose genius stemmed Chelsea’s greatest achievements. In 1769 the factory was sold to

apotropaic eye Summary

Apotropaic eye, a painting of an eye or eyes used as a symbol to ward off evil, appearing most commonly on Greek black-figured drinking vessels called kylikes (“eye cups”), from the 6th century bc. The exaggeratedly large eye on these cups may have been thought to prevent dangerous spirits from

porcelain Summary

Porcelain, vitrified pottery with a white, fine-grained body that is usually translucent, as distinguished from earthenware, which is porous, opaque, and coarser. The distinction between porcelain and stoneware, the other class of vitrified pottery material, is less clear. In China, porcelain is

Josiah Wedgwood Summary

Josiah Wedgwood was an English pottery designer and manufacturer, outstanding in his scientific approach to pottery making and known for his exhaustive researches into materials, logical deployment of labour, and sense of business organization. The youngest child of the potter Thomas Wedgwood,