Midterm Study Image 2009/2 Hassuna Period

Mesopotamia, Hassuna Period, Painted bowls from Samarra c. 6300-6000 BCE.

Proto-Hassuna not that well fired--black core indicates 600-700 degrees C. for one hour, likely in bonfires (no evidence of kilns found). Produced in small villages. Hassuna ware fired better--vestigial kilns--sunken firebox, clay grate, wares separated from fire, sloping stoke hole--upper part likely temporary (piled pot shards etc.) Kilns clustered away from houses in separate district. We don’t know who made them. Samarra ware 6300-6000 BCE--central Mesopotamia--towns enclosed by ditch--extended families--houses up to 14 rooms. Labour coordinated for irrigation etc.--settlements self-sufficient in ceramics--lots of kiln sites, wasters, 850-1050 Celsius. Decoration in red or black or bichrome imitates textiles, basketry, whirling style, bulls etc. Breakage repaired--valuable, but not as valued as stone vessels (found in graves). Some potters’ marks indicate existence of limited trade--pots found around region. There seems to be little agreement about the exact dates of the Samarra culture as well as its precise cultural and ethnic makeup. Extensive evidence of irrigation indicates investment in crop farming, permanent settlements and complex social organization. Samarra culture is noted for its fine painted pottery decorated in dark coloured backgrounds with figures of animals - birds - people and geometric designs. This type of pottery was first recognized at Samarra but was thought to be a southern variant of the Hassuna Culture. It now seems Samarra was roughly contemporary with late Hassuna and early Halaf culture, which built over Hassuna sites. Some archaeologists believe Samarran colonization of the southerly lowland area led to the development of the later Ubaid culture (which later absorbed Halaf to the north.)

Midterm Study Images 2009/1 Hacilar, Turkey

Haçilar, Turkey. Earthenware pots, hand-built, decorated c. 5000 BCE.

Possibly from Hacilar, modern TurkeyThis painted jar, shaped like a female figure, is similar to a type of pottery found at Hacilar, excavated by James Mellaart between 1957 and 1960. The potters at this site were able to produce high-quality wares with beautifully executed, bright geometric designs. The ceramics were well shaped and were evenly fired. Along with jars and bowls, clay female figurines were common. However, the only vessels of this type excavated at Hacilar were much larger and fragmentary.Pottery workshops were found in a earlier level at Hacilar, in the village centre. Grindstones were used to break up the natural pigments of red and yellow ochre for colouring the pottery. Alongside them were cups of paint, storage areas for the clay and modeling tools, and unpainted but burnished pottery. No kilns were discovered and the firing may have taken place outside the settlement. This type of pottery has also been found at other sites in western Anatolia, and at Mersin, on the south-east coast of Turkey.By the beginning of the fifth millennium BC, Hacilar had been abandoned, and with the end of the settlement came an end to the fine pottery tradition. Height: 11.5 cm Width: 6.7 cm.

Hello All,
After a year in which the course did not run, I am again looking forward to teaching the History of Ceramic Practice at ECU again! I will leave much of the blog from 2007 in place but will post the new course outline, new test images and other material as the fall approaches. I look forward to meeting my new students and learning more about their interest and hopes for this course. Stay tuned!
Amy

Industry in Britain

Great Britain 1700-1800: Industrial Revolution brings huge changes to industry. Eventually, small potteries can not compete, but this encourages development of genuinely alternate "art pottery" or studio potters. Technical improvements introduced into Staffordshire (main pottery area): Stoneware produced by John Dwight and Elers brothers (from Holland) end of 17th c--lathe-turned, precise shapes influenced by Chinese Yixing wares. Calcined flint added to make white body, salt glaze stoneware. Creamware perfected by Wedgwood--low fire earthenware, cheap, light colour takes decoration, industrial parallels development of consumer culture, emphasis on dining, etiquette, fashion. Creamwares after 1760 revolutionize tablewares available to middle classes, replace tin glaze.
Ralph Daniel introduces plaster of Paris from Continent for molds in 1740s--used for press molding salt glaze wares (slip casting not economical until introduction of deflocculants in 19th c.). Transfer printing introduced 1753. First used on enamels, but adapted to pottery. Copper plate printed ink on tissue or oil on gelatin bat. Oil transferred to pot, dusted with oxides for colour. Allowed for efficient, mass-produced decoration, popularity of prints (Hogarth and others), political commentary, souvenir jugs etc. Thomas Whieldon (1719-95) "agate wares" (white clay body coloured with iron, manganese, cobalt—clay wedged together to marbleize, imitate stone) and "tortoiseshell wares" (glaze colours dusted on, mix with streaky glaze). Enoch Booth introduces biscuit firing, which allows pots to be produced one place, decorated at another.
Redware, or red stoneware, was a popular type of unglazed pottery in the mid-eighteenth century in many parts of Europe, especially the Low Countries and England. It was principally intended to imitate Chinese tablewares for the preparation and serving of tea. In Stafforsdshire, the preparation of the red clays, using local Stafforsdshire clays which fired at a high temperature, had been perfected at the end of the seventeenth century by the Dutch brothers John Philip and David Elers. They produced exceptionally finely made teapots, mugs and tea canisters. The subsequent manufacture in the 1760s of unglazed red 'useful' wares was one of the ways in which Josiah Wedgwood established his name as a potter in the late eighteenth century. Wedgwood refined the body, and called it “rosso antico.” The most common surviving pieces are mugs, tankards, teapots and coffeepots. Shapes were made using plaster moulds.
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795): brilliant innovator, businessman, encourages canals, opposes slavery, supports French/American revolutions (real paradox!). Capitalizes on vogue for consumer goods, neoclassical decorative wares, improves creamware body--"Queensware"--admired by Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. "Frog Service" 1773 for Catherine the Great of Russia. Designs often based on metalwares, pierced wares, transfer printed. Jasperware: body coloured with cobalt other minerals (later, just dipped)--designs by leading neoclassical artists, copied from archaeological designs published by Sir William Hamilton and others from Pompeii, Herculaneum--used in furniture, tea services, jewellery, decorative vases—extremely elaborate and ornate.
Wedgwood produced a copy of the celebrated Portland Vase in black-and-white jasper-ware. The original, attributed to the Roman gem-cutter Dioskourides, is in the style of works made between 30 and 20 B.C. After its discovery in the late sixteenth century in the tomb of the Emperor Septimius Severus, it became one of the most admired works of antiquity and passed through an illustrious series of collections, among them those of Cardinal Barberini, Sir William Hamilton, and finally, the duchess of Portland, who donated it to the British Museum. The iconography remains a mystery, though many interpretations have been offered. A recent theory is that the frieze depicts (as the vessel is turned) Peleus entering to meet Thetis in the presence of her parents and Aphrodite and that the vase was made as a wedding present for the Emperor Augustus's daughter Julia on her marriage to Marcus Claudius Marcellus, her cousin, in 25 B.C. Wedgwood continued to issue editions of the vase throughout the 19th and 20th c.
The research of Josiah Wedgwood I (1730-95), and his experiments with various types of clays and methods of firing led to the production of creamware from the early 1760s. Wares made at Wedgwood in Burslem were sent to Liverpool to John Sadler (1720-89) and Guy Green (retired 1799) to be decorated with transfer prints.

French Porcelain

French Porcelain: Develops under court patronage. Soft-paste porcelain—made without the ingredient kaolin—was first manufactured in France in the late 17th century. No source of kaolin in France until 1768; soft paste still favoured until 19th c. Several important factories were founded, most around Paris. The earliest commercial porcelain was made at Saint-Cloud in about 1693. The Chantilly factory was founded by Louis-Henry de Bourbon, prince de Condé (1692–1740) in 1730. Chantilly moves to Vincennes (1738).
At bequest of Mme. Pompadour (favorite of Louis XV) moved to Sevres outside Paris 1756. Sevres granted exclusive privilege to make wares "in the style of Saxony" (Meissen) for 20 years—no need to pursue commercial success. Completely tied to system of power, intrigue of court. Employs hundreds of workers, some of greatest French artists, 7 specialist workshops—fashionable decorative objects, special effects--reserves ("camaieu") painted with fantasy scenes-Chinoiserie, rococo influence--potpourris, garnitures, plaques, opera glasses, ice buckets, table wares.
At the château of Vincennes, east of Paris, in 1740, under the aristocratic patronage of Jean-Louis Orry de Fulvy (1703-51), a soft-paste porcelain factory was established by former Chantilly workmen, In 1745, the factory, under Charles Adam, Orry de Fulvy’s valet, was granted a 20-year royal privilege to manufacture porcelain painted in the Meissen style with figures and gilding. Following Orry de Fulvy’s death, the factory experienced financial difficulties but began a new phase in 1752 when Louis XV, king of France (1723-74) acquired one quarter of the shares. The factory was then renamed the manufacture du roi (royal manufactory) and was granted official permission to mark its pieces with the royal cipher of interlaced L’s. In 1756 the factory moved to Sèvres.
Sèvres: In 1756 the factory of Vincennes relocated to Sèvres, a village near Versailles close to the château of Bellevue, owned by Madame de Pompadour (1721-64) the mistress of Louis XV and an important patron. In 1759 Louis XV took over complete financial control of the factory. A goldsmith, Jean-Claude Duplessis (c.1695-1774) was appointed as the artistic director of sculpture. The factory’s products were strongly influenced by the designs of François Boucher (1703-70), whose graceful, rococo style superseded imitations of Meissen and Asian porcelain.
In 1769 Sèvres began producing hard-paste porcelain, following the discovery of kaolin at Saint-Yrieix, near Limoges, in 1765. Although restrictions on the establishment of porcelain factories in France were relaxed to encourage the development of hard-paste porcelain, Sèvres retained its royal patronage and excusive right to produce sculptural, multi-coloured and gilded porcelain. The factory was nationalized in 1793, following the abolition of the monarchy, and is still in existence today.
Coloured grounds: rose pompadour, bleu celeste, bleu lapis. Inkstand: 1758, soft paste, green ground, decorated with cherubs, gilding-likely made for daughter of Louis XV, Mme Adelaide—crown once contained bell; terrestrial globe-ink; celestial globe contained sand-sprinkled through holes to dry ink on page-little cameo of Louis XV on side. Wallace Collection (London-collected Sevres especially with aristocrats fleeing Revolution). 19th c. under Alexander Broignart, factory abandons soft paste for hard. More "high-tech," clean, industrial, imitate any material: virtuosity and luxury. Soft paste examples from ancien regime highly sought after by wealthy reliving fantasy of past.

German Porcelain

German Porcelain: First "true" or hard paste porcelain produced in Europe 1709 under Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland by goldsmith and alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger. Initial experiments produce high-fire red stoneware, could be carved, polished. Often based on designs by Johann Jakob Irminger for metalwares. Böttger discovers use of kaolin to make true porcelain paste ("arcanum"—see great book, The Arcanum by Janet Gleeson). Meissen factory employs 500 people by end of century. Unpainted blanks smuggled out or sold to be decorated by independent artists--Hausmaler tradition ("house painters").
Most important Meissen designer Johann Joachim Kandler--creates numerous table figures based on Italian comedy (commedia dell'arte—stock characters wealthy merchant Pantaloon, beautiful Columbine, jester Harlequin) and pastoral shepherd groups (after French painters Watteau, Boucher), heraldic animals decorate Japanese palace of Augustus (large, difficult to fire, often cracked—based on actual animal studies), Swan service for Count von Bruhl. Johann Gregor Horroldt--major painter, develops overglaze colours (1669-1775) Porcelain also produced in Nymphenburg (Swiss modeler, Franz Anton Bustelli), Berlin, Vienna.
The first European hard-paste porcelain factory was founded in 1710 in Dresden by decree of Augustus II (1670-1733), King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, as a result of the successful porcelain experiments of Johann Friedrich Böttger (1682-1719), and Ehrenfried Walther, Count von Tschirhausen (1651-1708). Following Böttger’s death, the factory was administered by Johann Melchior Steinbrück, who appointed Johann Gregor Höroldt (1696-1775) as manager of the decorators’ workshop.
After 1731, the factory was directed by a treasury board, under the presidency of the king. In 1733, the factory came under the direction of Heinrich, Count von Brühl (1700-63), with whose patronage the outstanding modeler Johann Friedrich Kändler (1706-75) developed the medium of small-scale sculpture in European porcelain. The factory was disastrously affected by the Seven Years War (1756-63), and fell gradually into decline and financial hardship, reviving in the late 19th century. The factory survives today.
Overglaze enamels: Under the direction of Johann Höroldt, Meissen greatly expanded the color palette available for decoration. First a piece of porcelain would be fired to high temperature On on top of this hard, fired surface, overglazes would be applied. Overglaze colors are very low temperature glazes, mixtures of glass, lead, binder, and pigment. The lead acts as a flux, melting the glass at a very low temperature (around 1300° F). The binder used was often a thick (very toxic, turpentine-based) oil, which would allow the overglaze to 'stick' to the glazed surface.
During the firing the oil would burn away, leaving the melted glaze sitting on top of the previously fired high temperature glaze. Pigments used were the usual oxides of iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, antimony, and chrome. By blending and mixing these colors, Höroldt was able to create a rich and nuanced palette of colors with which to work. The main advantage of overglazing is that colors that cannot be achieved at porcelain temperatures can be attained at this lower temperature. The main disadvantage is their relative impermanence. Abrasion will cause the color to wear away.

European Porcelain

Hard Paste porcelain: original formula, developed in China under T'ang—vitrified mixture of kaolin (low iron, high alumina clay, china stone—quarz, mica and feldspar). Glazes include lime, feldspar—fires at about 1300C.
Soft Paste porcelain: ("pate tendre") low clay content, high quartz, glass frit, lime or gypsum—fires lower (1240 C or lower)—not as strong, slumps, cracks, but beautiful effects with glazes—used in France 18th c (Sevres) and Britain (Bow, Chelsea etc.).
Hard paste porcelain (“true porcelain”) consists of a “triaxial” blend of quartz, feldspar and kaolin. Fired at 1300 C, a dense vitreous body with an iron content less than 1% results in a white, translucent and very strong porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain is produced by a very different method, which was in common use around Paris by the mid-18th century. Soda ash, sea salt, potassium nitrate, silica and lime (or gypsum) were milled together and heated for 30 or more hours to form a white opaque product. The alkali and quartz react to produce an alkali silicate glass using a sintering technique very similar to that used since the 10th c. to make maiolica and faience glazes.
After 1750, calcined alum was added to provide a further source of potassia and alumina. The mixture was washed to remove any un-reacted alkali, as soluble alkali would migrate to the surface and cause blemishes. The sinter was milled wet and combined with 16.5% white limestone and 8.3% washed, decanted calcareous marl clay from Argenteuil, which added plasticity. This mixture was dried, wedged and stored for several months to ferment organic constituents and to improve plasticity. In this state, the material could be moulded.
However, to throw the material, black soap and parchment glue were added to increase green strength. Thrown ware was trimmed in the bone-dry rather than leather-hard state. This created dust that was very dangerous to the lungs. Soft-paste wares were fired for periods of up to 90 hours at temperatures of about 1240 C or lower. Soft-paste porcelains are generally twice-fired; lead- alkai-silicate, lead-silicate or lead-borosilicate glazes are applied to biscuit wares and re-fired to a lower temperature (Ceramic Masterpieces, Kingery and Vandiver).

Bone china: developed by Josiah Spode c. 1800--up to 50% bone ash, equal parts china clay, feldspar--ideal for casting, economical. By 1825, used extensively in Britain. Bisqued at around 1250C, then glazed and refired at around 1080C. Used lead-borosilicate glaze.
Wedgwood's cream ware/pearlware: Improved existing earthenware body after 1763--refined ball clay, calcined flint (pure silica withstands higher temperature), china stone/ china clay. Glazes lead-soda. cobalt added to glaze after 1779 to produce pearlware.
The first porcelain in Europe: In Florence, Grand Duke Francesco de'Medici (died 1587) was recorded in 1575 as having found the secret of making porcelain after years of trials and experiment. This is generally considered the first European porcelain, although the body and glaze are in fact based on Near Eastern and maiolica techniques. The paste formula and the high temperatures required in the firing kilns were difficult to achieve, and the project proved extremely costly: after Francesco's death, production dwindled.