Product Description

Pottery is one of the oldest and most widespread arts practised by humankind and its history can be traced back to the Stone Age. Changes in styles and types occurred in response to changing social, economic and technical demands, so that vessels and other objects made in clay can reveal much about the societies in which they were produced. This highly illustrated and readable account begins with the early civilizations of the Near and Middle East and traces the production of ceramics throughout the cultures of the globe, from the Mediterranean and the Orient to Islam and ancient America, from neolithic Britain to Wedgwood and de Morgan, from twentieth-century Africa and India to Scandinavia and Australasia, with a final chapter on the newest work of studio potters today. The illustrations, drawn from museums, collectors and practising potters around the world, provide representative examples of the major styles, materials and forms of all periods, allowing the reader to make comparisons and see relationships between the works of cultures which may be widely separated in space and time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #472880 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Emmanuel Cooper OBE is internationally known as a potter, writer, critic and broadcaster and as Editor of the influential international magazine Ceramic Review. He is Visiting Professor of Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art and a member of the Arts Council of England. He has written widely on both modern and historical ceramics and was a contributor to Pottery in the Making. His History of World Pottery sold over 25,000 copies in three editions and he is the author of numerous practical books including A Handbook of Pottery, Taking Up Pottery and Glazes for the Studio Potter. He has also written books on Bernard Leach and Lucy Rie.

Customer Reviews

The pleasure of this book starts with the Frontispiece!
The pleasure of this lavishly and lovingly illustrated book starts with the Frontispiece!

Written by Emmanuel Cooper, Editor of the magazine "Ceramic Review" and an international name in the fields of ceramics, writing and broadcasting, the book charts the development of ceramics from its earliest appearance to modern times. Ten thousand years, we learn, is a conservative estimate of the time in which pottery has been made, as recent archaeological finds have been estimated to be some twelve thousand years old.

Arranged geographically (and it is pleasing to see that Britain has a chapter all of its own), not only do we follow the development of ceramics in each geographical area, the author also gives step-by-step analyses of production methods, such as how ancient potters achieved red and black colours on the same pot by using a carefully prepared slip. Detailed technical information is thus balanced with more general historical narrative, making the book of equal fascination to working potters and the general reader.