Ten Thousand Years of Pottery (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The discovery that clay was plastic, that it could be modelled and shaped, dried and then baked in a fire to transform it into ceramic,..." (more)
Key Phrases: lustre decoration, modelled decoration, colouring oxides, New York, Bernard Leach, North America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An essential historical, critical, scholarly, and very highly recommended reference."--Bookwatch

Product Description

Pottery making is one of the oldest and most widespread of human activities, with a history that can be traced back to the Stone Age. Stylistic and technical changes over time reveal a great deal about the societies in which the pottery was made, so that clay vessels serve as essential cultural and dating indicators, as well as objects of individual skill and creativity.

This lavishly illustrated and comprehensive account begins with the earliest civilizations of the Near East and Middle East and follows the production of pottery chronologically around the globe, from the Mediterranean and the Orient to the Islamic world and ancient America, from neolithic Britain to the factories of Wedgwood and de Morgan, from contemporary Africa and India to Scandinavia and Australasia. The final chapters analyze the development of ceramics as a medium of personal expression by artists and studio potters during the twentieth century.

This is the fourth edition of a work that has been deemed a classic since its first publication in 1972 and, for this new edition, has been completely revised, expanded, and redesigned, with new illustrations throughout. The illustrations are drawn from museums, collectors, and practicing potters across the word and offer representative examples of the major styles, materials, and forms of all periods, allowing us to make comparisons and see relationships between the works of potters who may be widely separated in space and time.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press; 4th edition (February 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812235541
• ISBN-13: 978-0812235548
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #408,222 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential, historical, comprehensive scholarly reference., May 4, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Now in a fully updated and expanded fourth edition, Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery continues to be a wonderfully lavish and illustrated history of pottery making from its antiquarian beginnings with the earliest Near East and Middle civilizations to the present day. A global perspective is taken with representations from the Mediterranean, Asian, Islamic, Meso American, neolithic Britain, to the Wedgwood and de Morgan factories, contemporary Africa, India, Scandinavia, and Australasia. Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery concludes with detailed and comprehensive analysis of the development off ceramics as a medium of personal expression by present day artists and studio potters. Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery is an essential historical, critical, scholarly, and very highly recommended reference drawing upon the immense informational resources and artifacts from museums, collectors, and practicing potters.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 11, 2006

By	Raymond Medeiros - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the kind of book that I will look at frequently. It gives me such a global idea of my craft.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not the right edition, March 21, 2006

By	J. Mccance - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

i ordered the 5th edition. when i serached for the item the 5th edition title came up but on the individual item to select it said nothing about which edition it was. i assumed it was the 5th but when i got it i was wrong. they gave me the 4th.