Glossary Pottery and vessels
Fine ware
Pottery made with care from well-prepared clay, with thin walls and finished or decorated surfaces, mainly for serving, drinking and display.
Fine wares stand at the opposite end from the coarse pottery used for cooking and storage. They are the pots most often decorated, exported, imitated and placed in tombs, so they dominate museum collections and much of the dating system.
Each period in Cyprus has its leading fine ware: Red Polished in the Early Bronze Age, handmade Base Ring and White Slip in the Late Bronze Age, and the wheelmade Black-on-Red of the Iron Age, with its well-levigated clay and lustrous red slip.
Related terms
- Coarse ware
Everyday pottery made from gritty, heavily tempered clay, mostly cooking pots and storage vessels with little or no decoration.
- Ware
A class of pottery defined by a shared fabric, surface treatment and way of making, such as Red Polished or White Painted ware.
- Levigation
Refining clay by stirring it in water, letting the coarse particles sink and drawing off the fine clay that stays suspended.