Like playing horseshoes, my 1st post was ...... "close enough to count".
Me thinks sometimes "holes" are put into ceramic pieces if they are to be "fired".
Like "dishwasher safe" or "oven proof", .....its "kiln proof".
But I'll be ..... "right on the money, next time" ..... and you can be too iffen you read the following text "segments" that I copied from the included link address, to wit:
==========
Slip Casting - Clues to Modern Ceramic Reproductions Large holes (
much larger than air vent holes) on the bottom of figurines are also
signs of slip casting.
These holes are left by pouring out the liquid slip that did not cling to the walls of the plaster mold. These are usually dime to quarter-size or larger in diameter.
Slip is poured out the open top of pitchers and
out the bottom of figurines.
The tell-tale marks of figurines made by slip casting are large holes in the bottom from which the slip was poured in and out of the mold.
Fig. 6 Don't confuse "
firing holes" or "
vent holes" like the example here from an old Staffordshire figure, with the large holes left by slip casting.
Small holes from
1/16" to about an 1/8", were needed to let expanding gas escape hollow pieces during the firing of old pottery and ceramics[/i].
Read more @
http://www.realorrepro.com/article/Slip-casting