Вопреки тому что времени было мало, гончар успел замесить керамическую массу.

Вопреки тому что introduces a contrast meaning despite the fact that or even though.

So:

• Вопреки тому что времени было мало = Despite the fact that there was little time

A learner should notice that this is a bookish/literary way to express contrast. In everyday Russian, you will more often hear:

• Несмотря на то что времени было мало...

Both are correct, but вопреки тому что sounds a bit more formal or stylistically elevated.

It is best to learn it as a fixed connective expression, but its parts still make sense:

• вопреки = contrary to, against
• тому = to that
• что = that / what

Historically and grammatically, вопреки normally takes the dative case:

• вопреки правилу = contrary to the rule
• вопреки ожиданиям = contrary to expectations

In вопреки тому что..., the phrase has developed into something like a conjunction meaning despite the fact that....

So yes, the parts are meaningful, but in this sentence you should understand the whole chunk together.

Because вопреки requires the dative case.

The pronoun то changes by case:

• nominative: то
• genitive: того
• dative: тому

Since вопреки governs the dative, we get:

• вопреки тому

This is similar to other Russian prepositions that force a specific case.

This is because Russian often uses the genitive after words of quantity or insufficiency such as:

• мало = little / not much
• много = much / many
• достаточно = enough
• немного = a little
• сколько = how much/how many

So:

• мало времени = little time
• много работы = a lot of work

That is why the sentence has:

• времени было мало = there was little time

If you said время было мало, that would sound unnatural in standard Russian.

Russian often expresses there is / there was without a separate word like English there.

So English:

• There was little time

becomes Russian:

• Времени было мало

Literally, it is closer to:

• Of time, little was

This is a very common Russian pattern. English needs there was, but Russian usually does not.

Успел is the masculine past singular form of успеть, which is the perfective verb.

It means:

• managed to
• succeeded in having time to
• got to do something in time

So:

• гончар успел замесить... = the potter managed to mix... / the potter had time to mix...

Compare:

• успевать = imperfective, process/habit
• успеть = perfective, completed success

Examples:

• Я всегда успеваю позавтракать. = I always manage to eat breakfast.
• Я успел позавтракать. = I managed to eat breakfast.

Because after успеть, Russian usually uses an infinitive that presents the action as a completed result.

Here the idea is that the potter managed to complete the mixing of the clay mass, so замесить (perfective) fits well.

• успел замесить = managed to mix / finished mixing in time

Using замешивать would be much less natural here, because that imperfective infinitive focuses on the process rather than the completed outcome.

A useful pattern:

• успеть + perfective infinitive is very common

For example:

• успел прочитать книгу
• успела приготовить ужин
• успели закончить работу

Not exactly.

Замесить is specifically used for kneading or mixing into a workable mass, especially for things like:

• dough
• clay
• plaster-like material

So for a potter, замесить керамическую массу means to work and mix the ceramic material into the right consistency.

By contrast, смешать is a more general word meaning to mix together.

So:

• смешать краски = mix paints
• замесить тесто = knead/mix dough
• замесить керамическую массу = knead/mix ceramic clay body

It is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of замесить.

The dictionary form is:

• керамическая масса

Since масса is a feminine noun, its accusative singular looks like this:

• nominative: керамическая масса
• accusative: керамическую массу

So:

• замесить что? → керамическую массу

This is a standard feminine singular accusative pattern:

• новая книга → новую книгу
• интересная статья → интересную статью

In expressions like времени было мало, the verb often appears in a kind of impersonal neuter singular form.

Russian commonly uses было in quantity/existence statements of this type:

• Было много людей.
• Было мало времени.
• Было достаточно причин.

Even though людей or времени are not nominative subjects in the ordinary sense, было is the normal past-tense form used in these constructions.

So this is something to learn as a pattern rather than trying to map it directly onto English subject-verb logic.

Yes, it could.

The given sentence begins with the contrast clause:

• Вопреки тому что времени было мало, гончар успел...

This puts emphasis on the obstacle first: despite the lack of time...

You could also say:

• Гончар успел замесить керамическую массу, вопреки тому что времени было мало.

or more naturally:

• Хотя времени было мало, гончар успел замесить керамическую массу.

Russian word order is flexible, and moving parts around often changes focus more than basic meaning.

Because Вопреки тому что времени было мало is a subordinate clause placed before the main clause.

So the structure is:

• subordinate clause: Вопреки тому что времени было мало
• main clause: гончар успел замесить керамическую массу

Russian separates these with a comma:

• Вопреки тому что времени было мало, гончар успел замесить керамическую массу.

This is similar to English punctuation with opening subordinate clauses:

• Although there was little time, the potter managed...

It is grammatical and understandable, but it sounds somewhat formal or literary, mainly because of вопреки тому что.

In everyday speech, a Russian speaker would more likely say:

• Хотя времени было мало, гончар успел замесить керамическую массу.
• Несмотря на то что времени было мало, гончар успел замесить керамическую массу.

Also, керамическая масса is somewhat technical vocabulary, which fits the topic of pottery but makes the sentence sound more specialized.

So the sentence is natural enough, but not especially casual.

Yes. Very often вопреки is used directly with a noun or pronoun in the dative:

• вопреки правилам = contrary to the rules
• вопреки ожиданиям = contrary to expectations
• вопреки совету врача = against the doctor’s advice

When you want to follow it with a whole clause, Russian can use:

• вопреки тому что...

So compare:

• Вопреки плохой погоде, мы пошли гулять.
• Вопреки тому что погода была плохая, мы пошли гулять.

The first uses a noun phrase; the second uses a full clause.

Успел is:

• past tense
• singular
• masculine

We know this because the subject is гончар, which is a masculine singular noun.

Compare:

• гончар успел = the potter managed
• гончарка успела = the female potter managed
• гончары успели = the potters managed

In the Russian past tense, verbs change for gender in the singular and for number in the plural.

Not exactly with the same meaning.

• мало времени = too little time / not much time
• немного времени = a little time / some time

Мало usually suggests insufficiency or scarcity more strongly. That fits the contrast in this sentence:

• Despite the fact that there was little time...

If you said:

• Времени было немного...

that would sound softer and less strongly contrastive. It means there was some time, but not a lot.

So мало is the better choice here.