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Ceramics and Pottery the Oldest and Most Widespread Art

Pottery is one of the most enduring materials known to humankind. In most places it is the oldest and most widespread art; primitive peoples the world over have fashioned pots and bowls of baked clay for their daily use. Prehistoric (sometimes Neolithic) remains of pottery, e.g., in Scandinavia, England, France, Italy, Greece, and North and South America, have proved of great importance in archaeology and have often supplied a means of dating and establishing an early chronology.

Whether the name Limoges brings to mind a region in France, the city of Limoges, or the factories that produce fine Limoges porcelain, a picture of romance, beauty, and fabulous artisans no doubt follows. You might want to take a journey to the flea markets of Paris, the brocantes of Brittany, and into the heart of the city of Quimper, to see hundreds of examples of this distinctive and beautiful French pottery, some of it quite unique and rare.

Pottery industry was important industry in Germany.  Porcelain was born in the German city of Meissen in 1708. You will find fascinating texts include a history of porcelain painting, a discussion of Meissen's artists.  A collector's delight, in a book devoted to the wide variety of charming salt and pepper shakers produced by Goebel Porzellanfabriker of Germany, from the 1920s through the 1980s.

Islamic pottery making was centered at Baghdad in the 10th cent. Blue and green clear glazes were used, and lusterware was first employed as an over glaze. Lusterware was highly developed under the Fatimites in Egypt (1171BC), and the technique continued in use at major pottery centers over the centuries that followed.

Majolica pottery was mainly developed in Italy and from there it spread to Spain, France (where it was called faience), and to Holland (where it came to be known as delftware). Majolica and stoneware were the main pottery forms in Europe until the advent (18th cent.) of porcelain.