Stoneware
 

Stoneware clay has a high proportion of silica (in the form of feldspar) which fuses when fired at 1250°C to form a hard, dense, non-porous ceramic body that is usually grey or reddish brown in colour and opaque.

Porcellaneous stoneware was being produced in China as early as the Shang dynasty (c.1500-1028 BC) but in Europe, the first forms of stoneware seem to have developed around the Rhineland during the Middle Ages. During the XVIth century it was common to use a salt glaze which produced a shiny finish. Stoneware production declined with the increasing mastery of tin-glazed earthenware only to regain popularity in the second half of the XIXth century as it was enthusiastically adopted by French studio potters.

The earliest of example of stoneware in the museum is Chinese and dates from the T''ang period (618-907 AD). The museum''s collection contains representative pieces up to and including the present day, with a particularly extensive range of Sèvres stoneware.

© Musée national Adrien Dubouché - RMN