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Ceramics

Ceramic box base with a Chinese inscription that mentions a place, Jianning Fu, which dates from AD 1162 to 1278. From the Java Sea Shipwreck.

New Research

An 800-Year-Old Shipwreck Helps Archaeologists Piece Together Asia’s Maritime Trade

A new date for the Java Sea shipwreck could shed light on the politics of Chinese trade routes

Judy Chicago's Sappho plate

Cool Finds

Now You Too Can Eat Off of Judy Chicago’s Famous Feminist Dinnerware

Reproductions of four plate designs from “The Dinner Party” are available for the first time

At Sisian Ceramics, Vahagn Hambardzumyan throws clay on a wheel to make traditional Armenian shapes onto which Zara Gasparyan etches decorative patterns. The terracotta jugs on the left are made to hold water.

Armenia

The Art of Armenian Pottery Will Be on Display at This Summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The artists behind Sisian Ceramics create works evocative of the Armenian landscape

Cool Finds

World’s Oldest Smiley Face May Decorate a Hittite Jug

Researchers did not notice the cheery, 3,700-year-old expression until they restored the ceramic

Peter Voulkos in his Glendale Boulevard Studio in Los Angeles California

The Ceramicist Who Punched His Pots

Influenced by avant-garde poets, writers and Pablo Picasso, Peter Voulkos experimented with the increasingly unconventional

A Silk Road Wine Trail Karas Monument at the entrance of Rind Village in Vayots Dzor, Armenia.

Armenia

Can Ancient Techniques Make Modern Wine Better?

A new generation of wineries are going to painstaking lengths to acquire hundreds of historic clay karases

"Prudence" (before conservation) Andrea della Robbia (Italian (Florentine), 1435–1525) Ca. 1475 Glazed terracotta Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1921

Cool Finds

This Renaissance Sculptor Is Getting His First U.S. Show

Luca della Robbia is finally getting a showcase in the States

The Original Grenade Mugs

This Steampunk Pottery by a Man Named Beer is Not Your Usual Craft Fair Fare

Paveen “Beer” Chunhaswasdikul’s unique, hand-hewn stoneware will be showcased at the 32nd annual Smithsonian Craft Show

Chigusa, a tea jar, festooned with a traditional cover and ornamental cords.

Steeped in Admiration: Tracing a Ceramic Tea Jar’s Journey From Factory to Fame

“Chigusa and the Art of Tea” at the Sackler Gallery explores how a humble vessel became a revered object among Japanese tea men.

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