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Ceramics

Many of the delicate ceramics are still intact.

Cool Finds

A Shipwreck ‘Almost Beyond Belief’ Stunned Archaeologists in Norway With Its Cargo of Intact Porcelain Dishes and Luxury Goods

So far, archaeologists have recovered 40 artifacts from the discovery, an 18th-century shipwreck that likely will yield thousands more treasures

A remotely operated vehicle captured this image of the ceramics from the Camarat 4.

Here’s What Underwater Robots Are Finding at France’s Deepest Shipwreck, a 16th-Century Merchant Vessel Resting at the Bottom of the Mediterranean

Known as the “Camarat 4,” the ship was loaded with cannons, cauldrons and hundreds of ceramics—which are still visible on the seafloor. Researchers are surveying the site and carefully recovering a small selection of artifacts

Divers excavating the 12th-century Huaguangjiao One wreck uncover stacked Song dynasty bowls.

Treasure Trove of Shipwrecks Along China’s Coast Reveals How East Met West on the Maritime Silk Road

Sunken finds in the South China Sea testify to rich trade networks used over hundreds of years. The sea routes brought porcelain, tea and other goods from Asia to Africa, the Middle East and Europe

Researchers found a 4,000-year-old handprint on the bottom of a "soul house," a clay funerary object popular during Egypt's Middle Kingdom period.

Cool Finds

See a Stunningly Well-Preserved, 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Left Behind by an Ancient Egyptian Potter

The find “takes you directly to the moment when the object was made,” says curator Helen Strudwick

Pigeon (1949) could fetch up to $61,000 at auction.

These Never-Before-Seen Ceramics Show How Picasso Mastered New Art Forms

The artist’s ceramic pieces combined practicality with aesthetics. Now, seven of his hand-painted dishes are heading to the auction block

A jar made by H. Wilson & Company in Capote, Texas. Right, the muddy banks of Salt Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe River about 50 miles northeast of San Antonio, where Wilson’s pottery company sourced its fine red clay. 

Three Formerly Enslaved Artists Created Beautiful Pottery 150 Years Ago, and Now Their Wares Are Coveted Around the World

The stunning vessels from the H. Wilson & Company were forgotten for generations, only to gain new appreciation for the craftsmanship that went into them

The Met's employee art show features more than 600 works.

Every Two Years, Staffers at the Met Get to See Their Own Art on the Prestigious Museum’s Walls

The museum has been staging exhibitions featuring employee art since 1935. This year’s show is only the second in history that’s been open to the public

Two sides of a single ceramic lion's head and a female figurine from Dolni Vestonice

Did Prehistoric Children Make Figurines Out of Clay?

Fingerprints and scratch marks found in artifacts in the Czech Republic suggest youngsters of the Upper Paleolithic used the soil like Play-Doh, according to a pending new study

The vase dates to the Maya Classic period, which lasted from around 250 to 900 C.E.

Cool Finds

A Woman Thrifted This Ancient Maya Vase for $3.99—and Then Gave It Back to Mexico

Anna Lee Dozier started to wonder about the object’s origins when she realized it resembled artifacts in a Mexican museum

This 5,000-year-old ceramic vessel contains burnt food remnants that are helping scientists develop a more comprehensive understanding of food preparation in the region.

New Research

Archaeologists Discover Burnt Porridge Inside a 5,000-Year-Old Clay Pot

The leftovers shed new light on the dietary habits of residents of a village in Germany

Taiichiro Yoshida's metal sculpture of Jolteon

Gotta Catch These Pokémon Reimagined Through Stunning Traditional Japanese Craft Techniques

A new exhibition features 20 artists’ creative interpretations of Pikachu, Charizard and more

An associated pair of Chinese doucai "lotus and chrysanthemum" jars from the Qing Dynasty

Jars Found at Thrift Store Turn Out to Be Treasures From the Qing Dynasty

Bought for just $25, the 18th-century ceramics could fetch more than $60,000 at auction

Researchers uncovered 50 burials dated to roughly the second century C.E.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Necropolis Near Parisian Train Station

Residents of Lutetia buried their dead at Saint-Jacques between the first and fourth centuries C.E.

A brown-green vessel bearing the inscription, "A noble Jar for pork or beef / then carry it a round to the indian chief" made by the enslaved craftsman David "Dave" Drake, is now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

For the Enslaved Potter David Drake, His Literary Practice Was His Resistance

This 19th-century vessel, made to store meat, carries a powerful backstory of Drake’s defiance of the laws of enslavement

Pottery from the wreck of the Josephine Willis, which has been granted historical protection by the British government

Shipwreck Carrying Rare 19th-Century Ceramics Gets Government Protection

The British emigrant vessel sank with a cargo of Victorian pottery on board

Israel isn’t the first country where fingerprints found during archaeological research have elicited curiosity and spurred questions about who left them behind.

What Fingerprints Tell Us About Jerusalem’s Ancient Artisans

In an unusual collaboration, archaeologists in Israel are working with police to analyze prints left on fifth- or sixth-century pottery shards

Chapel of the Souls in Porto, Portugal

Coastal Cities of Europe

To Get to Know Portugal, Explore Its Azulejo Tilework

Since the 13th century, artists have been reinventing the art form that covers churches, palaces and train stations

The artwork’s last owner purchased it for just a few hundred pounds. 

Cool Finds

A Vase Kept in an Ordinary Kitchen Turned Out to Be a Qing-Dynasty Artwork Worth Millions

The rare, blue-and-gold vessel was crafted in 18th-century China

The four-day Smithsonian Craft Show opens April 20 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., offering the works of 120 artists (above: an array of offerings).

Nine Artists on What It Means to Create

Forty years of bringing critical attention to the nation’s best-known makers in the arts is celebrated at this year’s Smithsonian Craft Show

The chamber pot stands about 12.5 inches tall and measures 13.5 inches wide at the rim.

New Research

Parasite Eggs Help Archaeologists Identify Ancient Roman Chamber Pot

The ceramic vessel contained whipworm eggs found in human feces, debunking the theory that it simply served as a storage jar

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