Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure and Technology

Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure andTechnology was first published by the Free Press in 1986.  It won a publisher’s award for art (American Publishers’ Association, Scholarly and Technical, Honorable Mention, 1986).  The copyright is held by David Kingery’s son, William D. Kingery, Jr., who about 11 years ago signed over to the American Ceramic Society the rights to publish a second edition of the book. This second edition is divided into four parts. In the introductory section, it states : “The appearance of a ceramic is determined by its internal structure, which is in turn determined by the technology of its manufacture.  Revolutionary new methods of study and analysis have advanced out understanding of ceramics.  This book applies these new methods, connecting visual impact, internal structure, and technology for a deeper appreciation of ceramic masterpieces.” Each chapter outlines the transformative art and structure of a ceramic material by providing a general outline of history, artistic value, antecedent technologies, manufacture of the particular dated example, analysis of macrostructure, then microstructure, then composition, then firing, variability and its relation to appearance, and finally significance of technology and its contribution to art and culture. In the ceramic technology section, the sequences and variability of processing, exemplified in the case studies, is inventoried with emphasis on structure and transformation.