What Are Pottery and Ceramic Vases?
Pottery is one of humanity’s oldest arts. The discovery that clay hardened by heat retains a permanent shape may have taken place as far back as 30,000 B.C.E. Examples of ancient pottery exist that were created in Japan in 10,500 B.C.E. This long history is still reflected in the material composition of pottery and ceramic vases made today. The Difference Between Pottery Vases and Ceramic Vases The words pottery and ceramic are used together so frequently it would be easy to assume they were interchangeable. They’re not – sort of. Our word ceramic comes from the Greek word keramos, meaning pottery. But in modern usage, these two words are applied in different ways. Pottery is generally used to describe vases that contain fired clay. Pottery can also describe the art of making vases and other objects, or refer to the workshop or studio in which such an artist works. Ceramic is a much broader term than pottery. Ceramic refers to inorganic and non-metallic materials formed by heat. Most c
