Redware / Terracotta

and while we're on the subject of red clay - what's the difference between redware and terracotta?

i was on a little quiz recently, and you could say i'm a little bitter...just a little... ...but i was disallowed an answer to a question about this very topic. When asked, "what is mottoware made from?" I answered, "red clay". But they said that was incorrect and it was "terracotta". I have always thought that red clay is the material, and terracotta is what it becomes after the process of firing. So, in the example of mottoware, both answers maybe correct???

you wuz robbed!

i guess being bitter now won't get me anywhere, but thanks

I don't know if the third paragraph in the section The potter as craftsman (see https://www.antiquesjournal.com/pages04/Monthly_pages/june08/redware.html) sheds any light on the difference between redware and terracotta ...

... or maybe this although the definitions are somewhat simplistic ... http://nmscarcheologylab.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/cataloging-101-lead-glazed-redware-vs-jackfield/

or this even ... http://www.wordnik.com/words/redware as opposed to http://www.wordnik.com/words/Terracotta ... it doesn't appear there is much difference between the two ... as Dan said you were robbed ....

or this definition which states 'redware aka terracotta' ... http://worddomination.com/redware.html !!!

ok - I will shut up now as I have no idea what I'm on about

you try though Nige

I have heard several people say that I am trying at the best of times Dan ...

does anyone know of a good hotel in Amsterdam?

I know plenty Dan ... I will send you a long list ... there must be something in there that is preferable to student digs ...

studio-pots wrote:

bistoboy wrote:probably a silly question, but why would this tankard be classed as Redware? of course, it's made from a red clay, but the major colour is green. So, why not greenware?

You have answered your own question BB - it's made from a red earthenware. It's not a term that we use here in the UK these days but I think the origins of the term are British.

I always list my items as red earthenware, and isn't the name Terracotta from down in Europe/Mediterranian? Anyway I don't like the name myself, just my opion.

My understanding of terracotta is it's made from a grey clay before it's fired. After firing it's red. So an answer 'red clay' would be the unfired clay and therefore incorrect.

As for 'redware' it often refers to the reddish-brown slip used, which often has sgraffito or slipware decoration typified by the by the Pensilvanian Dutch. There is also 'yellow-ware' where a yellow or buff coloured slip is used.

With regards to these tankards they might be called yellow-ware, rather than redware, but they might not be either.

...if it's a glassy yellowy-green metal-oxide-based glaze, rather than a yellow clay slip covering.

As for mottoware, it's not really the clay body that defines it (although Devon mottoware is usually a red or brown terracotta), but rather the sgraffito motto inscribed in a slip covering.

Just to add, you can have a yellow slip, or yellow and green slip, on a red body, which would be redware.
Where a yellow slip is on a buff body it's yellow ware.

If you put a black slip on a pale pink body would that make it software ... ?

bistoboy wrote:i was on a little quiz recently, and you could say i'm a little bitter...just a little... ...but i was disallowed an answer to a question about this very topic. When asked, "what is mottoware made from?" I answered, "red clay". But they said that was incorrect and it was "terracotta". I have always thought that red clay is the material, and terracotta is what it becomes after the process of firing. So, in the example of mottoware, both answers maybe correct???

I'd have said red earthenware

mandrake1000 wrote:If you put a black slip on a pale pink body would that make it software ... ?

Software, hardware...lets-not-go-there

NaomiM wrote:My understanding of terracotta is it's made from a grey clay before it's fired. After firing it's red. So an answer 'red clay' would be the unfired clay and therefore incorrect.

The question i was asked in the quiz was referring to a piece of Devon Mottoware, so i feel i was quite correct to give "red clay" as an acceptable answer for what it was made from. There was certainly the Watcombe Terracotta Clay Company making such motto wares, and the piece i was asked about, may have been by them. But to not accept "red clay" but say that "terracotta" was the only correct answer was churlish because as has been proven in this discussion, there is no great difference in understanding of their meanings. A terracotta clay is a red earthenware
clay as far as i'm aware.

http://torquaypottery.co.uk/torquay-pottery-history

http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/collections/decorative-arts/ceramics

But it's all by-the-by, they didn't let me have it as answer and that's that. But no matter, i still won a good amount of prizes.

prizes?

what did you win??

first round: an early 20thC globe
second round: a victorian brass bound walnut stationary box with polished agates
third round: an early 20thC Chester silver inkwell/deskset.

I think the problem was that you and your Brother both knew more than the host and the expert on the show, I was seriously impressed with your depth of knowledge.

There would have been a one word answer on that mad womans card with no alternatives, definately robbed.