The History of Ceramic Pottery
Ceramic Timeline
•
35,000-7,000 B.C. Paleolithic Age
9500 B.C. Japan, Fired Vessels
6000 B.C. Middle East
4500 B.C. Mesopotamia
4000 B.C. Middle East, The First Cities
3000 B.C. The First Pottery Made in South America
2700 B.C. The First Glaze, Egypt
2655 B.C. Banshan Culture, China
2500-1500 B.C. Jomon Period, Japan
2500 B.C. Wheel Throwing in China
2500--1100 B.C. Minoan Culture, Crete
2000 B.C. First Pottery Made in Middle America
2000 B.C. Glassmaking, Middle East
1600-1100 B.C. Shang Dynasty, China
1500 B.C.-A.D. 300 Formative Period, Middle America
1200-500 B.C. Olmec Culture, Middle America
1100-400 B.C. Chavin Culture, South America
900-500 B.C. Earliest Lead Glazing, Middle East
1000-300 B.C. Classic Shapes, Greek Pottery
700 B.C. Black Figure Technique, Greece
600 B.C. Red Figure Technique, Greece
700-400 B.C. Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Italy
600 B.C. Tin-Lead Glazes, Middle East
300 B.C.-A.D. 1400 Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Africa
221-202 B.C. Life-sized Terra Cotta Sculpture, Qin Dynasty,
China
206 B.C.-A.D. 221 Han Dynasty, China
57 B.C.-A.D. 935 Silla Period, Korea
100-700 The Mochia Culture, South America
200 Feldspathic Glazes, Yueh Wae, China
200 B.C.-A.D.476 The Roman Empire, Europe
200-600 Haniwa Figures, Japan
300-980 Classic Period, Teotihuacan, Mexico
618-906 Tang Dynasty, China
632-1150 Early Islamic Wares, Middle East
800-1400 Southwest Indian, North America
•
950-1035 Mayan Post-Classic Period, Middle America
918-1382 The Koryo Dynasty, Korea
1000 Early Stoneware, Germany
960-1279 The Song Dynasty, China
960-1127 North Song, China
1128-1279 Southern Song, China
1150-1350 Medieval Islamic Period, Middle East
1200-1450 Chimu Culture, South America
1200-1521 The Axtecs, Central America
1450-1550 Inca Culture, South America
1200- Hispano-Moresque Wares, Spain
1556 First Books on Pottery Written, Italy
1230-1600 Tin-glazed Earthenware, Italy
1350-1900 Late Islamic Period, Middle East
1368-1644 The Ming Dynasty, China
1392-1910 Choson Period, Korea
1400-1900 Tea Ceramics, Raku Ware, Japan
1400 Salt-glazed Stoneware, Germany
1500 Tin-glazed Earthenware, France
1500 First Delftware, Holland
1575-1804 Soft-paste Porcelain, Europe
1600-1750 Staffordshire Slipware, England
1616 Arita Ware, Japan
1708 European Porcelain
1644-1912 Ch'ing Dynasty, China
1700-1850 Industrialization of Potteries, Great Britain
1850-1910 The Arts and Crafts Movement, Great Britain
1800-1920 The Arts and Crafts Movement, United States
1895-1905 Art Nouveau, France
1890-Present Pueblo Pottery Revival, United States
1900-1940 The Modern Movement
The Bauhaus School, Germany
The Modern Movement, England
1920's The Studio Potter/Folk Pottery
Mid 1900's Transition to Clay as Art
1946-1953 Pablo Picasso, France
1954-1964 Abstract Expressionism, Otis Influence, United States
Alfred Influence, United States
1960-1970's Funk and Fake Art
Late Twentieth Century Contemporary Clay
Early Twenty-First Century Current Trends
The Basket and the Pot
In some ancient
communities it is believed
that basket making lead to
the discovery of clay
pottery.
Baskets were made of
strong plant life for heavy
loads. They were lined
with animal skins to carry
water.
The Basket and the Pot
At some point, probably
before 7000 B.C.,
someone discovered an
easier, less wasteful, way
to waterproof a basket by smearing the inside
with a layer of stiff mud or
clay.
A New “Basket”
No one really knows when or
who first started to use the
new technology of ceramics,
but most speculate that it was
discovered by some
prehistoric person; perhaps
that person smeared a basket
with clay and set it too near a
fire. When the basket burned,
the clay hardened. Perhaps it
happened when a home or
village burned.
Earliest Pottery
The Beginnings of Pottery
• Clay animal and fertility
figures found at a site in the
Czech Republic estimated to
be around thirty thousand
years old are the earliest
discovered pottery.
• Clay sculptures of bison
discovered in the Tuc d’
Audobert Cave in France are
thought to be about
fourteen thousand years
old.
The Venus
Made of clay and bone
ash, this is the tiny baked
clay figurine is known as
the "Venus" of Dolni
Vestonice. It is thought to
be about 29,000 years old
and have been fired in a
beehive shaped kiln in a
Stone Age village.
East Asia Pottery
• Vast improvements in the
process of creating and
decorating pottery began in
the countries of East Asia,
especially China, Japan and
Korea.
• China lead the way with the
development of porcelain
and numerous technical and
artistic innovations that
influenced the world.
Japanese Pottery History
• Ten Thousand years of Jomon
– The porous, coiled earth ware pottery of Japan called
Jomon spanned more than ten thousand years, from about
12,000 B.C. to 2000 B.C and is the oldest carbon dated
pottery in the world.
– The term Jomon means cord mark in Japanese and refers
to the distinctive pattern made by pressing cord on the
surface of clay as decoration.
Jomon Continued
• Early Jomon pottery was
dominated by deep vessels that
are flower pot shape.
• Middle Jomon period decorations
included serpents and other
animal heads wounded around
the rims that some became
unbalanced.
• Late Jomon period was
distinguished by deep incising or
grooving that were filled with
cord marks and with burnished
surfaces.
Progress in Japanese Pottery
•
•
•
•
The spread of agriculture, the use of
primitive wheel turning in the making of
pottery and the start of metal working
characterized the Yayoi period in Japan
(300 B.C. to A.D. 300)
Yayoi potters created new vessels that
were smoother, more balanced and less
porous.
During the Haniwa or tumulus period(
A.D. 200 to 600) clay figures were placed
around tombs in underground burial
chambers.
The Japanese also made progress in firing
of pottery by adopting anagama kilns from
the Koreans and Chinese. Being able to
create higher temperatures was important
to the development of stronger, higher
quality pottery.
Buddhism, lead Glaze
and Pottery Centers
• Once Buddhism was
introduced in the sixth
century it influenced all
aspects of Japanese life.
• Chinese lead glaze pottery
became popular in the 7th
century and 8th century but
by 11th centuries the
Chinese influence declined
and the Japanese pottery
became floral quiet designs.
• By the 14th Century pottery
production centers were
established in locations
throughout Japan and each
developed a specialty.
• The raku technique was
developed at this time and
is still used today to create
very shiny pottery.
Discovery of Kaolin
• The Chinese had been
manufacturing
porcelain for many
years by the time the
Japanese discovered
deposits of Kaolin clay
at Arita on the island of
Kyushu in the early 17th
century.
• The first Japanese
porcelain, known as Imari
ware and produced mainly
for export, was decorated
in blue and white.
• By the middle of the 19th
century most pottery in
Japan was produced for
export and used simple
designs for mass appeal.
Chinese Pottery History
• Advancements from
China in the production
and development of
pottery cannot be
underestimated.
• China’s Earliest Pottery
was first produced in
the yellow river valley in
northern china and the
pottery were simple coil
built earthen ware.
Chinese Pottery History
• The first feldspathic
glaze occurred during
the Shang dynasty and
it combined feldspar
and wood ash.
• This produced greenish
pottery.
• In year 907 during the
Tang dynasty there was
a popular style called
the three Tang color
which included more
than three colors.
Chinese Pottery History
• Porcelain reached its
highest development
during the Sung
Dynasty in year 960 to
1280.
• Ting ware during this
period was very
popular: bowls, plates,
jars and pots coated in
ivory glaze and the rims
were branded with
copper.
Korean Pottery History
• A distinctive form of
Korean ware from the
rest of Asia in an inlay
technique known a
Mishima.
• Here you pierced the
clay then glazed black
and white under
celadon glaze.
Overall
As pottery making
developed in East Asia, it
also thrived
simultaneously in the
Middle East.
The Near and Middle East
The Near and Middle East
• This includes the
countries of
Mesopotamia now
(Iraq), Persia now (Iran),
Syria, Anatolia
now(Turkey) and Egypt.
• All of the earliest forms
of pottery from this
region are simple,
coiled vases.
The Near and Middle East
Fired clay figurine about
2.5 inches high. Made
about 7000 BC. from Tepe
Sarab a prehistoric village
site in Western Iran.
The Near and Middle East
This tiny fired clay image of a wild boar c.7000 BC. was
also from Tepe Sarab in Iran
The Near and Middle East
Enthroned goddess in
baked clay. c.5500 BC.
Possibly giving birth. Two
leopard-like heads on
either side. - Çatal Hüyük Anatolia Turkey.
The Near and Middle East
• Clay Vessels from as
early as 8000-6000 B.C.
WERE DISCOVERED AT
Latal Hyuck in Anatolia.
• They created deep
bowls and hole mouth
jars.
• They had light colors
and burnished surfaces
no decoration and were
wood fired. 
The Near and Middle East
• Ancient Cultures in Mesopotamia made 2 distinct
types of pottery:
1. Bowls and rounded jars with plain engraved line
patterns
2. Vessels called Samarra ware with decoration
painted on.
The Near and Middle East
•Samarra ware had
painted geometric
patterns as well as
human/animals in
red/black around 5000
B.C.
•Halfa type dish found at
Arpachiyah North Iraq
c.5000 BC.