The oldest pottery vessels discovered in East Asia date back to 20,000 years ago within the Xianrendong Cave of Jiangxi province. These fragments emerged from a time when mobile foragers hunted and gathered food during the Late Glacial Maximum.
Earthenware is pottery that has not been fired to vitrification and remains permeable to water. Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay that becomes nonporous whether vitrified or not.
The Nok culture of northern Nigeria produced early high-quality figural work that can be dated as early as 500 BCE and as late as 200 CE. These coil-built figures typically depict heads with triangular eyes and varied facial expressions.
The Imperial porcelain of the Song dynasty featuring subtle decoration shallowly carved by knife in the clay is regarded by many authorities as the peak of Chinese ceramics. The Ming dynasty produced large and more exuberantly painted ceramics with a wider reputation.
Josiah Wedgwood is credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery through methodical research and willingness to experiment. He perfected transfer-printing which was first developed in England about 1750 and largely replaced hand-painting for complex designs by the end of the century.