The art of Byzantine pottery, its manufacture, and its analysis using modern scientific techniques are key elements of Ceramic Art from Byzantine Serres, a companion volume to the first North American exhibition of Byzantine pottery, held at Krannert Art Museum of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In the volume's first essay, Eunice Dauterman Maguire and Henry Maguire discuss the aesthetics and design of Byzantine pottery, as well as its relationship to the ceramic traditions of the Near East and Western Europe, particularly Italy. In her chapter on the technology of Byzantine pottery production, Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzis tells of recent discoveries at Serres, in northern Greece, where a thirteenth- and fourteenth-century kiln site was excavated, along with clay separator rods and wasters.

Papanikola-Bakirtzis shows how the items found at Serres allow for detailed reconstruction of the processes used by Late Byzantine potters. Charalambos Bakirtzis provides an overview of the cultural setting in which Serres pottery was made.

Following the catalogue of objects in the exhibition, Sarah Wisseman's portion of the text describes how materials analysis by the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was used to determine clay sources and glaze composition.

Thirty-one illustrations, four of them in color, augment the four essays. In addition, each of the twenty-five catalogue entries gives a full description of a ceramic piece from the Serres workshops and is accompanied by a profile drawing and a photograph. Concluding all are an informative glossary and selected bibliography on Byzantine pottery.