Stoneware - History and Notable Examples

History and Notable Examples

The earliest example of stoneware is found in China, naturally as an extension of higher temperatures achieved from early development of reduction firing. From the various definitions of high-fired ceramics, it is agreed that the earliest stoneware is encountered in the late Shang dynasty in China, with large quantities in production by the Han dynasty.

Other notable historical examples include:

• American Stoneware refers to the predominant houseware of 19th century North America.

• Bartmann jug - a type of decorated stoneware that was manufactured in Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in the Cologne region of Germany.

• Böttger Ware - a dark red stoneware developed by Johann Friedrich Böttger. It is a very significant stage in the development of porcelain in Europe.

• Cane Ware - eighteenth-century English stoneware of a light brown colour; it was a considerable advance on the coarse pottery that preceded it but, for use as tableware, cane ware was soon displaced by white earthenware. During the 19th and the earlier part of the 20th century, however, cane ware continued to be made in South Derbyshire and the Burton-on-Trent area as kitchen-ware and sanitary-ware; it had a fine-textured cane-coloured body with a white engobe on the inner surface often referred to as cane and white.

• Crouch Ware - light-coloured Staffordshire salt-glazed stoneware of the early 18th century. It is credited as being one of the earliest examples of stoneware made in England. It was made from a clay from Crich, Derbyshire, the word `crouch' being a corruption.

• Rosso Antico - a red unglazed stoneware made in England during the 18th century by Josiah Wedgwood, and was a refinement of the redware previously made in North Staffordshire by the Elers.