Ceramic Fabric
Definition
The combination of clay matrix and included particles (temper, natural inclusions, and voids) that makes up a fired ceramic; the raw material from which thin-section petrographic description is built.
- Components
- Clay matrix, temper, natural inclusions, voids
- Studied via
- Thin-section petrography
- Discipline
- Ceramic and archaeological petrology
- Informs
- Provenance and manufacturing technique
- Analogous to
- Brick fabric in building material analysis
Common questions
What can ceramic fabric analysis tell an investigator that surface examination cannot?+
A thin section exposes the internal mineral inclusions and temper type used by the original maker, which can point to a specific clay source region or production tradition even when the surface glaze or decoration gives no useful clue.
How does fabric differ from the fired body colour of a ceramic?+
Fired body colour depends mainly on firing atmosphere and clay iron content, which can vary with kiln conditions alone. Fabric composition, the mineral inclusions and matrix structure, is far more resistant to firing variation and more diagnostic of source material.
Related terms
- Dehydroxylation
- The loss of structural hydroxyl groups from clay minerals (principally kaolinite) between about 450 and 600 °C during firing; an irreversible reaction...
- Grog
- Crushed fragments of previously fired ceramic mixed into new clay as temper; recognisable in thin section by their fired-clay texture, which differs...
- Mullite
- An aluminosilicate phase (3Al2O3·2SiO2) that nucleates in fired clay above roughly 980 °C, coinciding with the characteristic exothermic reaction of the kaolinite-to-mullite...
- Provenance
- The documented origin of a media file: the device that captured it, the time and location of capture, the chain of custody...
- Temper
- Material deliberately added to clay before forming to reduce drying shrinkage and firing cracking; common temper types include sand, grog (crushed old...