ArtPage on Earthenware

earthenware - pottery or other objects made from fired clay which is porous and permeable. Earthenware is fired at relatively low temperature, may be glazed or unglazed, and is usually but not always buff, red, or brown in color. Red earthenware is a clay given its color by the presence of iron oxide. A clay body based on ball clay is known as white earthenware. Faience, terra cotta, and majolica are examples of earthenware.

Also examples:

Japanese, middle Jomon period, c. 2500 BCE, Flame Pattern Vessel, earthenware, 61 cm high, Cleveland Museum of Art.

Chinese, T'ang dynasty, Pair of Lokapala (heavenly guardians), c. 700-750 CE, earthenware with three-colored (sancai) lead glazes, each 40 7/8 x 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches (103.8 x 41.9 x 29.8 cm), Dallas Museum of Art.

Unknown Italian, Ecce Homo, Faenza or Florence, about 1500, tin-glazed earthenware, height 23 3/4 inches (60.3 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA. See ecce homo.

Francesco Xanto Avelli Da Rovigo (Italian, Urbino, active 1528-45), Plate from the Pucci Service: ’Hero and Leander’, 1532, tin-glazed earthenware, diameter 17 3/4 inches (45.1 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Girolamo della Robbia (Italian, 1488-1566), Bust of a Man, France, about 1526 - 1535, tin-glazed earthenware, 18 1/4 x 7 inches (46.4 x 16 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA.

England, Lambeth, c. 1690, Pill Slab with the Arms of the Society of Apothecaries and the City of London, tin-glazed earthenware (Delftware), 10 5/8 x 9 5/8 inches (26.99 x 24.45 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See coat of arms.

England, 17th century, Charger of Charles II in the Boscobel Oak, c. 1685, lead-glazed earthenware with slip decoration, diameter 17 inches (43.2 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

George Edgar Ohr (American, 1857-1918), Vase, c. 1888-1894, earthenware, height 7 1/4 inches (18.42 cm), diameter 4 7/8 inches (12.38 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See vase.

George Edgar Ohr / Biloxi Art Pottery (American, c. 1880 - c. 1909), Vase, c. 1895-1900, earthenware, height 7 1/2 inches (19.05 cm), diameter 5 1/2 inches (13.97 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

George Ohr, Bowl, 1910, glazed earthenware, 3 5/8 x 6 3/8 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Eva Zeisel (American, born Hungary, 1906-), designer; Schramberg Majolica Factory (Schramberg, Germany), manufacturer, Inkwell, 1929-30, glazed earthenware, 3 3/8 x 9 x 9 3/8 inches (8.6 x 22.9 x 23.8 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Otto Natzler (Austrian, 1908-2007) , Gertrud Natzler (Austrian, 1908-1971), Bowl, 1943, earthenware, turquoise overflow lava glaze, height 3 7/16 inches (8.75 cm), diameter 8 1/2 inches (21.5 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See Austrian art.

Paul Soldner (American, 1921-), Wasp-Waist Form, 1982, earthenware, 15 1/2 x 12 x 8 inches (39.4 x 30.5 x 20.3 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Peter Voulkos (American, 1924-), Bowl with Inscribed Fish Design, 1957, red glazed earthenware, 4 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Also see ceramics, lead glaze, porcelain, stoneware, and terra cotta.