Colonial Stoneware Ceramics

Stoneware: Stoneware pottery is fired at temperatures between 1200 degrees to 1300 degrees Celcius, resulting in a ware that is non-porous (vitrified) and stone-like. Paste color generally ranges from white to gray to tan. While stonewares are impervious to liquids and do not need to be glazed, they often are. Salt-glazing is the most prevalent method used. During the firing, salt is introduced into the kiln. The sodium reacts with silicates in the clays, creating a shiny, pitted surface. This "orange peel" texture is an identifying characteristic of salt-glazed stonewares.

	English Brown: A generally buff to light gray, grainy stoneware body often with small dark inclusions, covered at least partly with a speckled brown slip and salt glazed. It most commonly occurs on archaeological sites as drinking vessels and bottles.		Rhenish: A salt-glazed stoneware that comes in two major varieties: Rhenish brown, a buff to dark gray bodied ware coated with a speckled brownish slip, and Rhenish blue and gray, a light gray bodied ceramic often colored with cobalt blue or manganese purple pigments. Both varieties can be decorated with incised or applied molded relief decorations.
	English Dry-Bodied: Fine-grained, non-porous stoneware body requiring no glaze. Often decorated with die stamped reliefs, sprig designs, or engine turning. Tea and coffee pots are the most common forms, but other tablewares and decorative pieces also occur. Common English dry bodied varieties include the red stonewares (often called "Elers-type"), as well as black basalts and jasperwares.		White Salt- Glazed: A salt-glazed, thinly potted, gray to white-bodied non-porous stoneware that is generally identifiable by its characteristic pitted "orange peel" surface. The gray pasted wares are white slipped (dipped) to make them appear whiter and often have a characteristic brown oxide coating on rims, handles, and spouts, areas where the slip did not adhere very well.
	Nottingham-Type: Stoneware with a buff to orange to gray body covered with a lustrous salt-glaze that gives the appearance of burnished metal. Decorated with incising, engine turning, molding, sprigging, piercings, raised cordons, polychrome decoration, and bands of rustications.		North American Stoneware: North American stoneware can be found in the Post-Colonial section of this website. Click on link above to take you to the essay.