Redware

Redware as a single word is a term for at least two types of pottery of the last few centuries, in Europe and North America. Red ware as two words is a term used for pottery, mostly by archaeologists, found in a very wide range of places. However, these distinct usages are not always adhered to, especially when referring to the many different types of pre-colonial red wares in the Americas, which may be called "redware".

In the great majority of cases the "red" concerned is the natural reddish-brown of the fired clay, and the same sort of colour as in terracotta (which most types of red ware could also be called) or red brick. The colour to which clay turns when fired varies considerably with its geological makeup and the conditions of firing, and as well as terracotta red, covers a wide range of blacks, browns, greys, whites and yellows.

Of the two "redware" types, both made between the 17th to 19th centuries (with modern revivals or imitations), the European was unglazed stoneware, mostly for teapots, jugs and mugs, and moderately, sometimes very, expensive. The American redware was cheap earthenware, very often with a ceramic glaze, used for a wide variety of kitchen and dining functions, as well as objects such as chamberpots.^[1]