Going back to John Ramsay, whom I think devised the most functional definitions
for American ceramics, whiteware is any material developed from a white clay or
body. He would distinguish it from redware, stoneware, brownware, and
yellow-ware.
Ramsay specifically includes in his whiteware the following: cream-colored or
C.C. Ware, creamware or Queensware, white earthenware, ironstone china (which
he claims was never made in America), white granite (our "ironstone"),
semi-porcelain, faience or majolica (usually a white or cream body under the
colorful glaze), jasperware, salt-glazed earthenware, and several other
varieties based on glaze and decoration.
Interestingly, he does not seem to address pearlware but surely would have
included it under whiteware.
Currently, I think the term "whiteware" is best used only in the most generic
sense, when a more specific identification cannot be made. I've found that
distinguishing ironstone and semi-vitreous porcelain is often very subjective,
for example, especially with small or split sherds.
I think Ramsay would have liked to have based his classification soley on paste
or body but had to resort to glaze as well. The reliance on color causes a
good deal of ambiguity. A stoneware crock with Albany slip might be called
brownware, but so could a piece of yellow-ware with Rockingham glaze. The
distinction between cream-colored or cane-colored ware and yellow-ware is a
gradual one, too, as Ramsay recognized. Even today, antique dealers and
archaeologists often don't distinguish between true yellow-ware and stoneware
with a yellow glaze and indeed there is a point where the two can't be readily
distinguished. I've seen 1950s Watt mixing bowl sherds assigned a ca. 1850
date. But I'm getting off the topic.
For a more recent discussion, I would recommend Gates and Oremrod (Historical
Archaeology 16(1-2): 7-8) which, though brief and directed specifically to the
East Liverpool area, clearly defines most of these types: "Whiteware is a
generic term which encompasses any type of pottery or porcelain that is white,
or nearly white, in color."
Jim Murphy
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