| Olwen Pen Aur's |
| Once we get into the true Middle Ages, the history of pottery in Europe, especially for wealthy patrons, often became the quest for Porcelain, and was always a search for more colour. When Chinese pottery was traded into the West, it amazed European potters and consumers. It was pure white, highly coloured, extremely strong yet incredibly light. Sometimes you could even see light through it. Potters today have the advantages of science to tell them what's happening with thier clay and glazes (and even that doesn't always appease the kiln gods, as all potters know!). They ahd to rely on traditiona dn experience tot ell them what their local clay could and coudl nto do. And European potters could not have known that they could never achieve the same results with European clay that Chinese potters could with Chinese clay. The Chinese pots were made of porcelain and stoneware, which must be fired to much hotter temperatures than earthenware. All European clay, with a few exceptions, is earthenware. Earthenware has some advantages over stoneware: it's easier to work with, easier to fire, and doesn't shrink or deform as much. From an economic standpoint, it's also good because it breaks easily, so the potter is kept busy making more pottery to repalce the broken stuff. But it's thick and can be difficult to shape into any fine detail. Most of the naturally occurring clays fire brown, red, or grey, sometimes cream. As the Middle Ages wore on, potters tried a number of ways of imitating the decoration of porcelain. Tin glazes are one method: a thick glaze containing tin is put onto the pot, then decorated with mineral colours. This gives you a nice white background to work on, but it's still just not the same as porcelain. Sraffito was another way. The white clays of Europe don't make good pottery. But if you paint a thin layer of white over red clay, it gives you that desirable white surface to decorate. Now you can colour it and glaze it, or you can scratch through it and make a pattern using the darker clay underneath. It wasn't until the eighteenth century that European potters found a way of making European clay almost as thin as porcelain. They mixed bone with fine white clay to get bone china. But bone china will never be translucent. The aesthetic of Asian pottery has, on the whole, taken over the world of ceramic artists in North America. Asian pottery is exquisite. The clay allows the potter to make very fine, thin pots with infinitely fine details of carving and finishing. And the glazes glow like jewels. The kiln technology has to be highly developed, because it can take weeks to load and fire a kiln to reach the temperatures needed for the clay. This means that every kiln load is a huge investment of time, materials, fuel and effort for the potters, so it pays to take the time to make each pot as close to perfect as possible. Whereas the technique and aesthetic of European pottery is that of the Dixie cup. Easy to make, easy to fire (just dig a pit in the ground!), easy to break, easily replaced. There are court proceedings from Staffordshire indicating that it was not uncommon for English potters to dig up sections of roadway for the clay, which was frowned upon by the local authorities. The aesthetic of much European pottery, but especially that of the Italian Renaissance, is exactly the obverse of the aesthetic of Oriental pottery. Where Oriental pottery, as we have all been taught as good little potters, is for the form of the pot to be the main consideration. The decoration only serves to enhance the form of the pot. Pottery must have "good bones." The Italian Renaisisance ideal was for the pot to be a vehicle for the decoration. This makes earthenware in general, but medieval European pottery in particular, difficult for modern potters to appreciate. We have been taught since the time of Bernard Leach that the only decent pottery is Japanese and Chinese (Korean si pretty good, too), while European pottery is a sad second cousin. I certainly was given no appreciation at all for earthenware, and had to re-educate myself. It's still not easy. But because of the immediacy of much of European pottery, there can be a charm and personality that some of the refined and elegant Asian pottery lacks. These were pots quickly made for a local market. The potters often knew the purchasers and users of their pottery well, so they might add a grinning face for cousin Betty on this jug, and make that one in the shape of a ram for Uncle Herbert, who is so very proud of his sheep. This was not high art. It wasn't destined to grace the tables of the nobility. This was destined for the kitchens and pantries of the people in the village or the manor where the potter worked. Especially in earlier pottery, there is a freedom of expression that isn't seen in more refined artforms. But even to Tudor times, there is a quirkiness and humour in British medieval pottery. Jugs and mugs have faces, salt cellars are in the shape of ladies or animals. The kilns were easy to build and easy to fire, relatively speaking, so a load of pottery wasn't a big investment. Make a few pots, fire them, they break, make some more. If you watch potters in Mexico at work, there is a similar sense. It's dirty work, and often back-breaking. But they crank out pots at an amazing rate, fire once a week or so, and get quick results. There's a lack of attachment to each pot that frees up the flow of ideas. If you're making a hundred of something, you can't afford to get bound in detail. And you might as well have some fun, because God knows it won't be much fun otherwise! |
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