Simply a pot
The first known clay pot made by mankind involved simply digging a hole with fingers in a lump of clay. The second method was simply rolling a long coil of clay, and from this coil, a spiral was formed, from which something resembling a vessel was arranged. In those times, women were most often involved in making clay pots. Forming a vessel with walls of uniform thickness, as we can see, was very difficult in those times.
In Mesopotamia
The breakthrough in pottery making occurred in Mesopotamia around 3250 BC. The inhabitants there conducted the first experiments with the potter’s wheel. Someone came up with the idea to mount the aforementioned wheel horizontally and place a lump of clay on it. The rotating wheel allowed the potter to shape the pot with their fingers. The rotational movement of the wheel and clay made the vessels formed in this way symmetrical.
In Poland
In our lands, clay vessels appeared around 5400 BC. At that time, agricultural peoples, who were Celts, arrived. These peoples thoroughly mastered the art of making vessels on the potter’s wheel. The main raw material was, of course, clay, but various additives such as sand and light crushed stone were added to harden it. The most famous ancient archaeological site is located near Nowa Słupia in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It was there that Celtic settlements with pottery made on the potter’s wheel were discovered. After being formed, this pottery was subsequently fired in special pottery kilns.
Pots as handmade products
When the Celts left Polish lands, clay vessels were again made by hand. The possibility of using the potter’s wheel reappeared at the end of the 2nd century AD. Pottery from that period primarily has a dark and shiny surface. For firing the finished vessels, kilns partially buried in the ground were used, usually two-chambered with a special bellows draft.
The Sixteenth Century
The greatest development of Polish pottery occurred in the 16th century. At that time, almost all cities had at least several pottery workshops. In Krakow alone, twenty potters worked regularly. In the 18th century, clay pots were gradually abandoned, as earthenware and ceramic vessels, mass-produced, appeared in factories. Ceramic factories, then called “farfurnie,” were usually established in towns that had previously been centers of hand pottery. Thus, “farfurnie” were established in Biała Podlaska (1738), Żółkiew (1747), Glińsk (around 1750), Ćmielów (1809), and Iłża (1823).
The Decline of Pottery
At the beginning of the 20th century, the craft of pottery declined in Poland. This profession became unprofitable at that time. But even today, we can see a museum exhibit of an ancient potter’s workstation. The potter, sitting on a bench, would turn the lower disc of the potter’s wheel with their feet, setting it in rotational motion. A suitable supply of clay had to be on the bench, and a vessel with water for wetting hands, vessels with paints, a brush, a smoothing tool, and wire for making patterns were indispensable tools for such a craftsman.
The editorial staff of “Dziennik Polonijny” thanks Mr. Grzegorz for valuable information on the history of ceramic products.
