Earthenware

The main other important types of pottery are porcelain, bone china, and stoneware, all fired at high enough temperatures to vitrify.

[4] The Combined Nomenclature of the European Union describes it as being made of selected clays sometimes mixed with feldspars and varying amounts of other minerals, and white or light-coloured (i.e., slightly greyish, cream, or ivory).

[11] Earthenware has lower mechanical strength than bone china, porcelain or stoneware, and consequently articles are commonly made in thicker cross-section, although they are still more easily chipped.

[9] Darker-coloured terracotta earthenware, typically orange or red due to a comparatively high content of iron oxides, are widely used for flower pots, tiles and some decorative and oven ware.

[4] Materials The compositions of earthenware bodies vary considerably, and include both prepared and 'as dug'; the former being by far the dominant type for studio and industry.

Much historical pottery was fired somewhere around 800 °C (1,470 °F), giving a wide margin of error where there was no precise way of measuring temperature, and very variable conditions within the kiln.

The invention of transfer printing processes made highly decorated wares cheap enough for far wider sections of the population in Europe.