Faience [for Faenza, Italy], any of several kinds of pottery, especially earthenware made of coarse clay and covered with an opaque tin-oxide glaze. The term is particularly applied to the cer...

Dwight, John, fl. 1671–98, English potter, reputed founder of the Chelsea porcelain factory. The registration in 1671 of his patent for the Mistery of transparent earthenware … is the first ce...

Vitry-le-François, town (1990 pop. 17,483), Marne dept., NE France, on the Marne River. Textiles and earthenware are the chief manufactures. The town was founded by Francis I in 1545. During W...

Delftware. The earliest delftware was a faience, a heavy, brown earthenware with opaque white glaze and polychrome decoration, made in the late 16th cent. Some of the earliest imitations of Ch...

Clepsydra or water clock, ancient device for measuring time by means of the flow of water from a container. A simple form of clepsydra was an earthenware vessel with a small opening through wh...

Majolica or maiolica [from Majorca], type of faience usually associated with wares produced in Spain, Italy, and Mexico. The process of making majolica consists of first firing a piece of eart...

Potteries, the, area, c.9 mi (15 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, Staffordshire, W central England, extending northwest-southeast in the upper Trent valley. The area includes Stoke-on-Trent an...

Prescott, city (1990 pop. 26,455), alt. 5,389 ft (1,643 m), seat of Yavapai co., central Ariz. in a mineral-rich area; inc. 1883. It is a mining and ranching center, a summer resort, and the h...

Ceramics, materials made of nonmetallic minerals that have been permanently hardened by firing at a high temperature, or objects made of such materials. Most ceramics resist heat and chemicals...

Stove, device used for heating or for cooking food. The stove was long regarded as a cooking device supplementary to the fireplace, near which it stood; its stovepipe led into the fireplace ch...