Ceramics is the broad category — anything made from fired clay or similar non-metallic minerals, including tiles, sculpture, insulators and spacecraft heat shields. Pottery is the narrower one, usually meaning vessels: pots, bowls, plates. All pottery is ceramic; a ceramic brake disc is not pottery.
The core difference
- ceramics — the material class and the craft: fired clay and related minerals, in any form.
- pottery — objects, usually vessels, made from fired clay. Also the workshop where they are made.
How far ceramics reaches
The word covers far more than art. Ceramic materials include electrical insulators, dental crowns, cutting tools and the tiles that protected the Space Shuttle on re-entry. They are used because fired ceramics resist heat and wear in ways metals do not.
Inside pottery
Pottery divides by what it is made of and how hot it is fired: earthenware (lowest temperature, porous unless glazed), stoneware (hotter, non-porous) and porcelain (hottest, fine and translucent).
Choosing
If you mean vessels, pottery is precise. If you mean the material or the wider field, ceramics is correct — and it is the right word for a course or department covering sculpture and tiles as well as pots.
Frequently asked questions
Is all pottery ceramic?
Yes. Pottery is made of fired clay, which makes it a ceramic. The reverse does not hold — many ceramics are not pottery.
What is the difference between earthenware, stoneware and porcelain?
Firing temperature and material. Earthenware is fired lowest and stays porous unless glazed; stoneware is hotter and non-porous; porcelain is hottest, fine and often translucent.
Are ceramics only used in art?
No. Ceramic materials are used in dentistry, electrical insulation, cutting tools and heat shielding, because they resist heat and wear.