Ceramics In America

The 2020 volume of Ceramics in America is a celebration of the depth and diversity of ceramics in the American context. Beautifully illustrated articles explore the use of clay from the most basic building bricks to refined earthenwares promoting the political and economic issues of the American Revolution. Of special interest is the origin of the ceramic manufacturing spark in America, looking at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia cited by historians and connoisseurs as the height of recognition of achievement for ceramic production in the United States. The archaeological discovery of rare "black delft" teapot fragments from Charleston's Drayton Hall is recounted in an exciting collector's narrative. Other articles will include a profile of North Carolina potter David Stuempfle who continues the old-age tradition of producing wood fired stoneware, a study of Thomas Jefferson's Chinese porcelain, and Pueblo pottery collected by a German Museum in the early twentieth century.

For the first time, color photographs of the known nineteen surviving objects from this important American porcelain factory are presented.Accompanying essays provide the historical context for the rise and fall of the factory along with exploration of porcelain technology and classification of parallel British porcelain. Important new evidence is presented for an even earlier porcelain manufactory near Charleston, South Carolina that of emigrant Staffordshire potter John Bartlam.

This is the first volume to bring together archaeology, anthropology, and art history in the analysis of pre-Columbian pottery. While previous research on ceramic artifacts has been divided by these three disciplines, this volume shows how integrating these approaches provides new understandings of many different aspects of Ancient American societies. Contributors from a variety of backgrounds in these fields explore what ceramics can reveal about ancient social dynamics, trade, ritual, politics, innovation, iconography, and regional styles. Essays identify supernatural and humanistic beliefs through formal analysis of Lower Mississippi Valley "Great Serpent" effigy vessels and Ecuadorian depictions of the human figure. They discuss the cultural identity conveyed by imagery such as Andean head motifs, and they analyze symmetry in designs from locations including the American Southwest. Chapters also take diachronic approaches—methods that track change over time—to ceramics from Mexico’s Tarascan State and the Valley of Oaxaca, as well as from Maya and Toltec societies. This volume provides a much-needed multidisciplinary synthesis of current scholarship on Ancient American ceramics. It is a model of how different research perspectives can together illuminate the relationship between these material artifacts and their broader human culture. Contributors: | Dean Arnold | George J. Bey III | Michael Carrasco | David Dye | James Farmer | Gary Feinman | Amy Hirshman | Yumi Park Huntington | Johanna Minich | Shelia Pozorski and Thomas Pozorski | Jeff Price | Sarahh Scher | Dorothy Washburn | Robert F. Wald

The 2021 volume of Ceramics in America features new discoveries about ceramics used in the American context. Topics include American stoneware, Chinese export porcelain, and commemorative historical and political wares. Of special interest are ca. 1790-1810 slip-decorated earthenwares from the manufactory of Enoch Wood and James Caldwell.

A diverse range of essays, new discoveries, and book reviews on the latest research of interest to ceramics scholars.

The essays in this book look at the development of British Ceramics and their collection by American collectors. The historic 'special relationship' between Great Britain and the United States spans decades and is deeply valued on both sides of the 'pond.' Emerging from the alliances forged in the world wars in the first half of 20th century, both British and American societies have benefited from the infusion of each other's cultural contributions. Ceramics and ceramic collecting has been no different in this regard. The British ceramic art displayed in this book is largely loaned from the private collections of California connoisseurs. These treasured artifacts testify to the regard and appreciation that American collectors hold for British ceramics. This catalog accompanies the 2013 exhibition by the same name at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, CA.

An indispensable introduction to the trade and ceramics of the New Netherland colony.