Definition:Pearlware

Pearlware is a refined white earthenware body developed by Josiah Wedgwood around 1779 and quickly adopted by Staffordshire and other English potteries. Pearlware is distinguished from creamware by a slightly blue-white tint — a bluish cast achieved by adding a small amount of cobalt to the clay and glaze — that made it appear whiter and more like Continental porcelain. Pearlware became the dominant body for Staffordshire dog figurines and related English earthenware figures through approximately 1820–1840, when even whiter bodies became standard. For collectors of early English dog figurines, recognizing the characteristic pearl-blue tint of pearlware — visible especially where the glaze pools in recessed areas — helps confirm early 19th-century or late 18th-century production dates.