Boleslawiec Pottery

Bolesławiec pottery is the collective term for pottery produced in Bolesławiec, Poland. Boleslawiec Pottery is also known collectively as Polish pottery or Polish stoneware.

For centuries one of the premier art forms in Central Europe has been the pottery and ceramics created in the Silesia region of Poland. The durable and functional creamy white and blue stoneware pieces are unique and easily identifiable. Ceramics and pottery are a definitive part of the identity of the city of Bolesławiec, Poland. The town itself is often called Miasto Ceramiki (Town of ceramics). It is impossible to talk about the town without talking about the ceramics that have been produced there for over a thousand years. It is a matter of great pride to the inhabitants.

Ceramic art has long been intertwined with Bolesławiec, a town located in Silesia, a historically disputed region of Europe. The ceramics works are referred to as Boleslawiec pottery, or they are sometimes called by their German name: Bunzlau pottery or Bunzlauer pottery. There has recently been a resurgence in the popularity of Boleslawiec ceramic art in the United States.

The geography lends itself to ceramic work as the area is rich in natural clay deposits; the clay is still excavated today. The clay is plentiful and of extremely high quality. It has a high feldspar and silicon content, and is classified as stoneware after firing. It is fired at extremely high temperatures, around 1100-1300 degrees Celsius. The clay is brown to grey in color, and rough in texture compared to finer claybodies such as porcelain. Stoneware is sturdy and vitreous to semi-vitreous and porous when fired. Glaze can be applied and the piece can be re-fired to create a watertight surface. There is also a unique clay slip associated with the Bolesławiec supply base, the application of which results in a glossy, brown surface.

Ceramics has been a part of Bolesławiec and the entire region’s history for an extremely long time. Potters and ceramic artists are on record from as early as the 14th century, with the first written record of a potter in the municipal books of Świdnica in 1380. However, archaeological digs have shown pottery and ceramics from the early Middle Ages, and trading patterns strongly indicate their presence at such an early time.

Potters from the Bolesławiec area first united into a guild around the start of the 17th century. Most of the earliest remaining pieces date from the beginnings of the eighteenth century. They are characterized by the brown glaze and were usually pitchers or jug type vessels. Some of the vessels are lidded forms with attached tin lids, though many are open. They are wheel made and uniform in shape, and were either smooth or bore a diagonal ridge pattern. Most bear a mark of some kind, usually an individual’s initials and a date.

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