Stoneware is clay with added sand fired at high temperatures. It becomes semi-vitrified and impervious to liquids.

A modern technical definition for stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay.  Stoneware clay is a specific type of clay that differs from earthenware clay.

When salt is added to the firing process, the resulting wares are referred to as salt-glazed stoneware, a separate collecting category.

In Asia, stoneware is treated as a form of porcelain.

In Europe, stoneware was not produced until the late Middle Ages.  European kilns before that period were less efficient and could not reach the high temperatures stoneware required.

Before England's manufacture of stoneware, Dutch and German wholesale merchants, especially those located in Cologne, were exporting large quantities of stoneware to England.

John Dwight of Fulham developed stoneware in 1673 and received a patent to produce it.  He made copies of German wine jugs known as “graybeards” and molded jugs, mugs, portrait busts, and red clay teapots.  When Dwight died in 1703, his family continued to manufacture stoneware.

John and Phillip Elers of Staffordshire started to make red stoneware.  They introduced salt-glazing.

Numerous potters made stoneware in The Potteries in Staffordshire.  The Morleys from Nottingham made brown salt-glazed wares between 1700 and 1799.  Doulton & Watts were the largest English commercial stoneware manufacturer.

England was the most important manufacture of fancy stoneware in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  Most of this production was salt-glazed stoneware.  Red-bodied stoneware faded from the scene early in the 18th century.

Modern English studio potters continue to utilize stoneware as a potting technique.

What is the Value of your Stoneware? V​iew more in our Stoneware Price Guide.

Most stoneware pieces were plain and utilitarian. Some potters did add decoration.  Stoneware forms often were dipped in slip and then fired.

Wedgwood marketed his red stoneware body as “Rosso Antico.”

Banks, figures, flagon jugs, flasks, jugs (covered and open), pitchers, puzzle jugs, tankards, teapots,  water bottles, and wine casks were among the most common stoneware forms.

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Identify your Stoneware Marks.

Books and Periodicals

An English Pottery Heritage: A Survey of Earthenware and Stoneware 1630-1800 by Troy Dawson Chappell.

English pottery by Julia E. Poole. 

Warman's English & Continental Pottery & Porcelain: Identification & Price Guide by Susan D. Bagdade and Al Bagdade.

Web Resources

Fulham Stoneware www.british.history.ac.uk.

Stoneware www.britannica.com.