Pottery Slides

FA 17 Philippine Art History (Cruz)
Report by Luke P. Tan
I. Pre-colonial and Indigenous Traditions
Pottery
Outline:
Brief background and history
Types and Materials
Processes / Method:
Preparation
Presentation
Early Pottery
Early Filipinos were adept of at collecting clay and
forming, sun drying and baking earthenwares in open
fires. Shaping was done by hand with or without a
turntable, after which the earthenware was fired in the
open field using forest wood, bamboo, dry leaves, and
grass. There were no kilns or ovens in prehistoric
earthenware sites in the Philippines. Hand-shaping
methods including coiling, pinching, pressing, molding,
and slab building. While the simple globular was likely
the earliest and most dispersed form, presentation
dishes and jarlets were also found in ancient sites.
https://lovesarangani.wordpress.com/maitum-2/
POTTERY
Jeannie Javelosa, Monica Felicia P. Consing, Rene B. Javellana, Alice G. Guillermo and Imelda C. Endaya
Updated by Cecilla S. Dela Paz
• Pottery consists of functional and decorative objects made from clay and fired at high
temperatures.
• Ceramics (from the Greek keramikos or “potter”) is also a term used, although ceramic has
a wider application and includes
objects for industrial use.
Clockwise from left: Jar with

crisscrossed ropes on body,
mammiform jar with 14 nipples, jar
with vertical ribs, ovoid jar with long
neck, and footed oval dish, all
earthenware.
Paulino and Hetty Que Collection
• Pottery is divided into three types:
1. EARTHENWARE or terra-cota (literally, dried) which is made from porous clay and fired
at a relatively low temperature, ranging from 1700 ºF to 2100 ºF;
banga at tapayan
NCCA Official
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nccaofficial/17816075123
2. STONEWARE, which is made from a mixture of clay and feldspar and fired at a temperature
ranging from 2220 ºF to 2230 ºF;
https://kissestheexplorer.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/img_6535.jpg
Pagburnayan Jar Making “It is a place where they used the old and authentic way of making jars. This burnay is made
of locally-sourced clay with a type of fine sand called anay."
Stoneware products from
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY,
Philippines
Photo by Bobby
Lagsa/Rappler
https://assets.rappler.com/4716E4FDEEAD4334B4EBF2F11E0F4432/img/71F637D342FE4A0B9335E7C65AE491E5/pottery6.jpg
3. And PORCELAIN, which is made from kaolin (a pure white clay from China), and feldspar, then
fired at at a temperature ranging from 2500 ºF to 2700 ºF; Pottery can be covered by a
nonporous layer made from oxides, called glaze, or it can be unglazed.
The Elephant Dish of Lena Shoal

Date:
Photo Credit: Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces.
https://filipiknow.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Lena-Shoal-Blue-and-White-Dish-with-Flying-Elephant.jpg
Zhangzhou ware found in
the Philippines:
“SWATOW” Export
Ceramics from Fujian
16th-17th Century
– Rita C Tan
© ArtPostAsia Private
Limited
http://www.ocsphil.org/publications-of-the-oriental-ceramic-society-of-the-philippines
PROCESS
• The preparation of material for making pottery involves quarrying clay from riverbanks or clay
deposit, and cleaning this of impurities by removing branches and twigs and by sedimentation,
which involves the mixing of clay with water
until it forms a creamy substance.
• The mixture is allowed to stand for a
considerable amount of time to allow sand,
pebbles and stones to settle at the bottom of
the mixture, thus leaving the clay body clean.
• Clean clay is separated from the sediments
and is allowed to dry until it reaches a
doughlike consistency.
• This is then mixed with proper proportions
with other substances, including feldspar, ash
and metal fillings.
Image: Samoki potters at the clay pit
Photo by Jenks
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3308/3308-h/images/pl087.jpg
An animal (carabao) is used as a tool for kneading clay.
http://xplorerboyz.blogspot.com/2012/05/weekend-getaway-our-encounter-with.html
•There are six common ways of working with clay:
1. Slab making
2. Coiling
3. Turn modeling or throwing
4. Hand modeling or anvil-and-padle method
5. Cradling
6. Molding
1. The slab method involves rolling out the clay into flat sheet of slab and joining them
together
Roll the clay.
Trace/cut with a needle tool. Join all parts together.
https://juliannakunstler.com/ceram1_slab.html
2. Coiling means rolling out clay to form cylindrical strings and coiling these to form a bowl,
pot or jar.
https://www.claycraft.co.uk/news/making-a-coil-bowl/
video: https://youtu.be/PgYJvbQgb40
3. Throwing uses the potter’s wheel.
https://waytogo.cebupacificair.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/vigan-2.jpg
4. The anvil-and-padle method uses a stone or pot shard and a wooden paddle to shape an
object, thin it out and open it.
A Samoki potter
Expanding the bowl of a pot
Photo by Martin
5. Cradling involves shaping an open and shallow
object by moulding it on another object, like a basket, a
piece of cloth or a leaf.
6. Molding, customarily use for decorative works, uses a plaster of paris mold in which slip is poured
and allowed to dry.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qXXTEDSE39o/VMD9WERO1AI/AAAAAAAALHk/gghH4eP6IEM/s1600/IMG_5347.jpg
Firing
• Firing removes all the moisture from the clay and renders the clay durable.
Firing is done either in a kiln; a brick oven, which can be heated to high temperature by electricity, gas or wood; or
an open pit, a depression in the ground into which the clay objects are covered with flammable material like wood,
coconut husks and fronds, then fired.
• Stoneware takes 12 hours to fire and 12 hours to cool.
The fired pieces are called bisque.
An example of open pit firing
http://mybeautifuliloilo.blogspot.com/2013/08/pottery-making-in-miagao-true-to.html
Terracotta pieces made by different ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines consist largely of
cooking utensils, stove, decorative items and toys.
Traditional "pugon" for

wood and charcoal
Barangay Cagbang in
Miagao, Iloilo
photo by Bombette G.
Marin
clay beads as bracelets for
sale
Barangay Cagbang in
Miagao, Iloilo
Miagao church in the
eyes of a 17-year old
boy potter.
Miagao, Iloilo
A family of potters in
Barangay Cagbang,
Miagao, Iloilo
photo by Bombette G.
Marin
The Bontoc Igorot
Albert Ernest Jenks
Manila 1905
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3308/3308-h/3308-h.htm
Girls of Bontoc pueblo

Photo by Martin
“The mother who has come
down with her babe on her
back for an olla of water”
Photo by Jenks
“Most of the pottery consumed in the Bontoc area is the product of Samoki, the sister pueblo of Bontoc. Samoki
pottery meets no competition down the river to the north until in the vicinity of Bitwagan, which makes and vends
similar ware both up and down the river.”
Samoki potters at the clay pit
Photo by Jenks
Transporting clay from the pit to the pueblo
Photo by Jenks
(a) Macerating the clays in a wooden mortar;(b) Beginning a pot
Photo by Jenks
Shaping the rim of a
pot.
Photo by Martin
Expanding the bowl of a
pot. (paddling)
Photo by Martin
Smoothing and finishing a sun-dried pot.
Photo by Jenks
Agawa clay pipe maker.
Photo by Jenks
Agawa clay pipes. (Those in the lower row are finished.) Photo by Jenks
Finished Agawa clay pipes, with stems.
Photo by Jenks
Gourd for storing salt meats.
Photo by Martin
Women burden bearers
Photo by Jenks
(a) Tulubin men bringing home salt; (b) Samoki potters with ware
Photo by Jenks
A ba'-si vender
Photo by Martin
SFA 192 Sculptural
Ceramics
Under Prof. Katti Sta. Ana
SFA 192 Sculptural
Ceramics
Under Prof. Katti Sta.
Ana
SFA 192 Sculptural
Ceramics
Under Prof. Katti Sta.
Ana
My classmates
SFA 192 Sculptural

Ceramics
Under Prof. Katti Sta. Ana
•
•
•
v
• Wild-boar vessel from Casiguran, Sorsogon
• Four-breasted jar from Calapan, Mindoro
• Ilocano burnay Kalinga lidded jar
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Pottery Slides

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Pottery Slides

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

FA 17 Philippine Art History (Cruz)

Report by Luke P. Tan

I. Pre-colonial and Indigenous Traditions

Clockwise from left: Jar with

The Elephant Dish of Lena Shoal

Photo Credit: Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces.

Roll the clay.

Trace/cut with a needle tool. Join all parts together.

An example of open pit firing

Traditional "pugon" for

Girls of Bontoc pueblo

Samoki potters at the clay pit

SFA 192 Sculptural

You might also like