Profiling nineteenth-century Australian potteries: Approaches to provenancing ceramics and identifying potting practices

This study explores the advantages of using chemical characterisation to investigate provenance and manufacturing processes at two colonial potteries: the Thomas Ball Pottery in the Sydney Brickfields, and Irrawang in the lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales. A total of 64 earthenware sherds were analysed using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and 11 lead-based glazes using Raman microspectroscopy to determine the composition of the ceramic bodies (fabrics) and glazes respectively. XRF and statistical analyses of the fabrics confirmed that sherds from the two Potteries could be discriminated. Raman microspectroscopy was used to identify glaze inclusions such as quartz, feldspar and haematite. These characterisations of both bodies and glazes are part of ongoing research to develop chemical profiles of known potteries, creating a reference database for the wider identification of Australian colonial pottery products and potting practices.