Earthenware vessels are the lowest fired historic pottery type, fired between 800 and 1200 degrees Celsius (1472 and 2192 degrees Fahrenheit) resulting in a semi-porous unvitrified clay body.[i] The low temperatures used during the firing process melt the outer surfaces of the clay particles and once cooled they become fused together.[ii] Glazes are added to earthenware vessels to make them better suited for use with liquids. Lead oxide and tin-enameled glazes are the two most common glazes used on earthenwares produced by European and American potters. Lead glazes were popular because of they have a low firing temperature (510^o C or 950^o F) and provide a uniform glossy finish.[iii]

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[i] Prudence M. Rice, Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1987), 5,82.

[ii] Cinda K. Baldwin, Great & Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina (The University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 2014), 11; Rice, Pottery Analysis, 103-104.

[iii] Glenn C Nelson, Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook (University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, 1971), 208.