Whiteware
Title
Whiteware
Description
Whiteware is a general term for white earthenware, which encompasses a variety of decorative types and styles, including creamware and pearlware for the purposes of this collection. Many whitewares have a white paste with a clear glaze that allows for decoration, such as a transfer printing*. Whiteware paste is also hard and semi-porous; it may even appear chalky. Whiteware is a form of refined earthenware and is generally fired at approximately 1100-1200° Celsius.
Sometimes a separate category, cream-colored wares (or creamware) are categorized by their cream-colored hue and paste that has wide variation and often has the same decorative types as white earthenware. In this categorization cream-colored wares are included in the whiteware category as they can be difficult to differentiate with age and their separation is not as important to this collection as it may be to others. Another category, pearlware, was also included in this whiteware classification as they are a white earthenware that include a distinctive blue tint to the glaze to enhance the whiteness of the vessel, traditionally used as an identifier. Since it can be difficult to define the line between pearlware and whiteware, as both may use cobalt to enhance the whiteness of the body, they have been combined and can be separated by decoration if need be.
*Transfer printing occurs when copper plated designs are transferred to tissue paper, which is then applied to white earthenware under a clear glaze. This was popular from the 1870s to the early 1900s when decals became popular for their ease of decorating mass-produced ceramics in the United States.
Sometimes a separate category, cream-colored wares (or creamware) are categorized by their cream-colored hue and paste that has wide variation and often has the same decorative types as white earthenware. In this categorization cream-colored wares are included in the whiteware category as they can be difficult to differentiate with age and their separation is not as important to this collection as it may be to others. Another category, pearlware, was also included in this whiteware classification as they are a white earthenware that include a distinctive blue tint to the glaze to enhance the whiteness of the vessel, traditionally used as an identifier. Since it can be difficult to define the line between pearlware and whiteware, as both may use cobalt to enhance the whiteness of the body, they have been combined and can be separated by decoration if need be.
*Transfer printing occurs when copper plated designs are transferred to tissue paper, which is then applied to white earthenware under a clear glaze. This was popular from the 1870s to the early 1900s when decals became popular for their ease of decorating mass-produced ceramics in the United States.
Source
https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/Printed%20Earthenwares/index-PrintedEarthenwares.htm
https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/Shell%20Edged%20Wares/Shell%20Edged%20Wares%202nd%20page.htm#EvolutionofCreamware
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/ceramic-types/introduction/
Majewski, Teresita, and Michael J. O’Brien
1987 The Use and Misuse of Nineteenth-Century English and American Ceramics in Archaeological Analysis. Archaeological Method and Theory 11:117.
https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/Shell%20Edged%20Wares/Shell%20Edged%20Wares%202nd%20page.htm#EvolutionofCreamware
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/ceramic-types/introduction/
Majewski, Teresita, and Michael J. O’Brien
1987 The Use and Misuse of Nineteenth-Century English and American Ceramics in Archaeological Analysis. Archaeological Method and Theory 11:117.
Date
Early 1800s-mid 1900s in this collection
Type
Historic Ceramic
Coverage
p45/ACC 133, p45/ACC 133, p3/ACC 139, p1320/ACC 140, p5366/ACC 170, p1839/ACC 170, p529/ACC 170, p5366/ACC 170, p5366/ACC 170, p5362/ACC 170, p1872/ACC 170, p4840/ACC 170, p1766/ACC 170, p1839/ACC 170, p207/ACC 189, p356/ACC 190, p356/ACC 190, p356/ACC 190, p356/ACC 190, p45/ACC 212
Collection
Citation
“Whiteware,” The Phoenix Project , accessed October 2, 2026, https://martaphoenixproject.gsuanthropology.com/items/show/218.