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Ceramic technology. How to characterise ceramic glazes

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Abstract

Glazes add value to ceramic, improve its appearance (colour and shine) and make it waterproof. Through the choice of colours and designs, glazes made ceramics fashionable, even luxurious, and therefore, an object of trade. Each region and ruling dynasty developed its own style or trademark which makes them particularly suitable for dating purposes. Therefore, the study and analysis of glazes offers direct information about the acquisition of technical skills (technology), trade of specific materials (inter-regional links), migrations and the introduction/adoption of new trends. A ceramic glaze is a thin glassy layer fused to the surface of a ceramic body through firing. The interaction between the glaze and the ceramic body results in the interdiffusion of elements between both. A glaze consists mainly of an amorphous phase, but also includes bubbles, cracks and crystalline phases (undissolved compounds and crystals formed during the firing). Finally, the glazes were also decorated, and a large variety of materials and methods of applying the decorations were used. In this chapter, we present a summary of the technical characteristics of glazes (composition, microstructures and technical requirements), their discovery and use throughout history and decorative techniques. The methodology and analytical techniques to obtain the information are also discussed.

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Notes

  1. Natron is a naturally occurring mix of sodium carbonate decahydrate (Na2CO3·10H2O) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate found in saline lake beds in arid environments.

  2. Barilla is a mixture of mainly sodium carbonate, variable amounts of potassium carbonate and some impurities. It was obtained boiling the water used to wash the ashes of burned halophyte dried plants found in coastal salt marshes and seashores.

  3. Saltpetre, potassium nitrate (KNO3), can be found in caves as crystallising efflorescence of organic decomposition or bat guano, or artificially made of nitrogen from urine-rich soil with mineral potassium.

  4. Faience or Egyptian faience was used to design the Egyptian glazed objects made of crushed quartz; the name was taken from the city of Faenza in Ravenna (Italy) known for its quality production of decorated white opaque glazed wares which showed a similar appearance to the Egyptian objects. It is obviously a misnomer but well accepted in Ancient Egypt and Near East contexts.

  5. Earthenware is the English name for ceramics and tiles made of clay and fired at temperatures below 1100 °C.

  6. Islamic stonepaste also called fritware is an artificial mixture of sand and a glass frit plus some clay discovered by the Islamic potters in the twelfth century in either Egypt or Syria. The ceramic bodies obtained are very white, suitable for decoration. It should not be confused with Chinese stoneware which refers to the natural rocks used to produce Chinese ceramic bodies.

  7. Galena, lead sulphide (PbS), is a lead ore.

  8. Feldspars are tectosilicates found in igneous and some metamorphic rock; groups are of the alkali type with typical composition (Na,K)AlSi3O8 and of plagioclase with typical composition NaAlSi3O8—CaAl2Si2O8. At the interface with a lead glaze, lead potassium feldspars of typical formula (K,Pb)AlSi3O8 are also formed.

  9. Wollastonite is a calcium inosilicate, CaSiO3.

  10. Pyroxenes are inosilicates found in igneous and metamorphic rocks, and those formed in glazes have typical formulae (Ca,Mg,Fe)2Si2O6.

  11. Gehlenite is a sorosilicate, with the formulae Ca2Al(AlSiO7), formed by the decomposition of calcium carbonate and reaction with clay at a temperature between 750 and 850 °C.

  12. A slip is a slurry made of clay, quartz and sometimes a colourant or pigment particles suspended in water applied over the ceramic surface to give a finishing and/or a colour.

  13. Cassiterite, tin IV oxide of the formula SnO2.

  14. Anime and corpus are vitreous yellow and white opaque frits, respectively, which were added to transparent glass by Venetian glassmakers since the fifteenth century.

  15. Celadon is a high-temperature–fired glazed ware with jade-like colours.

  16. Wood ashes may contain up to 70% CaO and also relatively high amounts of K2O, Al2O3, MgO, Na2O and also P2O5. In fact, the presence of phosphorous in a glaze is considered evidence of the use of wood ashes in its production.

  17. Kaolinite is a clay mineral with the chemical composition Al2Si2O5(OH)4 produced by the chemical weathering of aluminium silicate minerals like feldspar. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica (SiO4) linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (AlO6). It follows a series of high-temperature solid-state transformations; first, metakaolinite (Al2Si2O7) above 550–600 °C, spinel (Si3Al4O12) above 925–950 °C, platelet mullite (3Al2O3·2SiO2) and cristobalite (β-SiO2) above 1050°C and, finally, transforms into a needle-shaped mullite above 1400 °C.

  18. Ding wares are considered one of the first white porcelains (although it has a cream colour), with a firing temperature above 1300 °C, produced in the north of China. The quality achieved in the Northern Song Dynasty period made it one of the greatest wares.

  19. Porcelain stone is a natural rock found in the south of China composed of a mixture of quartz and fine-particle hydro-muscovite containing a small amount of feldspar and kaolinite.

  20. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–979) was an era of political upheaval and division in tenth-century Imperial China.

  21. Kentrolite–melanotekite series, Pb2Mn2O2Si2O7–Pb2Fe2O2Si2O7, are formed around decomposing particles of manganese or iron oxide in a lead glaze at a firing temperature below 925 °C (Di Febo et al. 2017b).

  22. Braunite, 3(Mn2O3)·MnSiO4, formed by the reaction of manganese with the silica of the glaze.

  23. Bixbyite, (Mn,Fe)2O3, is formed firing pyrolusite (MnO2) at a temperature below 950 °C.

  24. Haussmanite, Mn3O4, is formed firing pyrolusite (MnO2) at a temperature above 950 °C.

  25. Haematite, Fe2O3; the presence of small crystallites gives a red colour. If it grows as large hexagonal platelets, it gives a sparkling glow to the glaze (aventurine glazes).

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Acknowledgements

This chapter was carried out as part of the research conducted on glazes since 1990 by T Pradell and J Molera. We would like to thank Professor MS Tite for his detailed revision of the manuscript, comments and suggestions which soundly improved the text.

Funding

The project received long-time financial support from MINECO (Spain) (latest grant MAT2016-77753-R) and Generalitat de Catalunya (latest grant 2017 SGR 0042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Diagonal-Besòs, Building C. Av. Eduard Maristany, 16, 08019, Barcelona, Spain

    Trinitat Pradell

  2. Center for Research in Science and Multi-Scale Engineering of Barcelona (BRCMSE), Campus Diagonal Besòs, Building I. Av. Eduard Maristany, 16, 08019, Barcelona, Spain

    Trinitat Pradell

  3. Research Group in Mechatronics and Modelling Applied on Technology of Materials (MECAMAT), Engineering Department, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya, C. de la Laura, 13, 08500, Vic, Spain

    Judit Molera

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Pradell, T., Molera, J. Ceramic technology. How to characterise ceramic glazes. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 189 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01136-9

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