Ceramics and fired arts
Look beyond the decoration
Form can reveal throwing, hand-building, moulding or assembly. A rim, base or finger mark may offer clues to an object’s intended use.
Firing changes clay. Earthenware, stoneware and porcelain differ in body, temperature and vitrification as well as appearance. Glaze can protect, colour or transform the surface.
Art guide
Three questions for an object
From useful vessel to sculpture, clay connects making, technique, surface and exchange between cultures.
Body
Study the colour, texture and porosity of the ceramic material, sometimes visible at the base.
Form
Compare profile, opening and apparent weight to consider use, display or experiment.
Surface
Look for relations between slip, glaze, painted decoration, relief and firing marks.
Ceramics and fired arts
A route through a collection
- 01
Start with form
Describe silhouette and proportion before reading the label.
- 02
Identify technique
Compare two bodies or glazes from different places or periods.
- 03
Find context
Check use, provenance, workshop and circulation in the museum record.
Glossary
Useful terms
Technique clarifies choices of making while observation remains central.
- Earthenware
- A porous fired clay body commonly made watertight with glaze.
- Stoneware
- A dense, usually vitrified ceramic body fired at high temperature.
- Porcelain
- Ceramic made from a particular clay mixture and fired at high temperature.
Ceramics and fired arts
Questions about ceramics
Understand earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, glazes and the place of ceramics in art collections.
01Is porcelain always older than stoneware?
No. Their histories differ across regions; date and origin must be checked for each object.
02Must ceramics be functional?
No. Artists also use clay for sculpture and installation.
03Why examine the underside?
A base may reveal the clay body, workshop mark or firing traces.
