Earthenware is a general term for clay shaped and fired into a hard, stiff, inelastic, non-eroding and heat-resistant object. The term Pottery includes Earthenware and terracotta, which is a form of Earthenware. Subject to the items mixed with the clay and increasing the firing temperature, earthenware can become stoneware or porcelain. Ancient earthenware is fired in the wide range of 800 to 1400 degrees and includes Han dynasty mingqi.
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Mingqi are ancient earthenware pottery items usually made using a bivalve mould and covered with a lead glaze that fired to a dark green. The lead in the glaze often combined with tomb dampness for centuries creating a chemical reaction changing its coloring into a lustrous and iridescent green seen here. Han mingqi were ancestral…
Artisans in the Roman Empire created varying local styles of terracotta figurines of gods and goddesses for placement on home shrines. This figure holding a jar represents Haroprates the ancient Greek god of silence and secrets. He may be an image of a royal and temple cult since he wears a double crown that symbolized…
The Biblical Period corresponds to the Middle to Late Bronze Age in the Holy Land (the Levant circa 2300-1200 BCE) when ancient pottery was made by molding wet clay into shapes (the coil construction method) and then finishing its shape by removing the clay’s excess moisture using the paddle-and-anvil technique) before firing. Made in Judea…
This ancient pottery lekanis is from Apulia in Magna Graecia, the Roman name for the South Italy coastal area colonized by the Greeks in the 6th century B.C.E. Greek settlers arrived with their Hellenic culture intact and had much influence on Italian civilization. A lekanis was a highly decorated low shallow bowl with close-fitting top…
This terracotta figurine from Alexandria in the Roman Egypt depicting a female holding a young child was probably placed in a home shrine to provide favors and protection. Although it is difficult to identify specific deities, this figure is probably a kourotrophos (meaning woman nurturing a child) –a female mortal or deity figurine with an…
An oenochoe or oinochoe is the Greek word for a wine jug and the name of an important category of Greek pottery created in many forms of which there are many variants copied and modified by cultures throughout the ancient world, especially by ancient pottery centers in the Africa Proconsularis province of Roman North Africa. As common…
This earthenware cup is called a beaker, a term used by archeologists to describe small cups without a handle and held in the hands similar to Japanese ceramic teacups that also warm one’s hands. Items like this were made in Africa Proconsularis, the Roman North Africa pottery center and distributed throughout the Roman Empire). Using…
This is an excellent example of an earthenware carinated flagon made in a Roman-Empire ceramic production center in the Roman-North-Africa territory called Africa-Proconsularis. The word flagon is derived from the Greek word for flask and is a larger, taller variant of a Greek flask used for oils (lagynos). Wheel made for the lower classes, undecorated…
This kiln-fired medium size earthenware platter is a wheel made functional piece called African Red Slip (ARS). A category of ancient pottery used by those of high status for formal occasions to serve food, it was made in Roman-Empire production centers in the Roman-North-Africa province called Africa-Proconsularis. They were shipped everywhere along the same trade…
This ancient wheel-thrown pottery was made in the Greek colonies, Apulia, Magna Graecia in Southeastern Italy and dates from the 4th century B.C.E. Magna Graecia is the Roman name for coastal Southern Italy colonized by Greek city-states and first named by the Roman poet Ovid in his poem Fasti. These settlers brought their Hellenic culture,…
Smoking tobacco in Burma/Myanmar and Thailand has been an integral part of Southeast Asian cultures for centuries and are usually found underground by hill-tribe farmers when ploughing their fields in Northern Thailand and Burma. They usually have small chips on the bowl, body and stem and are otherwise very good condition. The bowl often has…
Smoking tobacco has been an integral part of Northern Thailand and Burma/Myanmar Hill-Tribes culture for centuries. Unglazed mould made black earthenware clay pottery pipes like this are found buried by farmers when preparing their fields. This pipe was made in two parts, a rounded bowl on a flat-footed base and an extended stem. The bowl…
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