History of Ceramics (CER 4910 / 6910)

ISLAMIC CERAMICS



GENERAL: By the end of the 7th C. AD, Islam had united many races, countries and people into an empire that extended from India, through Persia (Iran), Mesopotamia (Iraq), and North Africa to Spain. The stability of a centralized religion and government in this vast area led to a revival of arts and learning.

Trade routes to China were re opened through Central Asia along the Silk Road.

ISLAMIC POTTERY: Most wares were made for daily use, not just to be looked at. All pottery made was low fired earthenware or a low fired composite frit ware.

Great interest in surface design and glazes.

INFLUENCES:

Ancient Traditions: Long tradition of painted pottery in Pre Islamic Mesopotamia and Persia. Glazes were developed in Mesopotamia about 1600 BC. Tin oxide was used as an opacifer in lead glazes by the 8th C BC. Most famous is the glazed bricks used to build the Ishtar Gate of Babylon (604-562 BC). The use of tin glazes died out until revitalized by Mesopotamian potters in the 9th C AD. Bright blue glazed wheel-thrown storage jars continued to be made and still are today.

Islam: Encouraged the use of geometric and floral designs (Arabesque) and Arabic calligraphy in surface design. Because of a ban on the use of metal tableware, lusterware was developed.

China: Chinese porcelain influenced Islamic pottery at various times but especially the three colored gazes of the Tang Dynasty in the 9th C, the Song white porcelain in the 11-12th C and the Blue and White ware of the Ming in the 16thC.

EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD (632-1150 AD):

Umayyad Dynasty 632-750: First Islamic rulers made their capital in Damascus, Syria. Built Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem. Absorbed the Greco Roman art of Syria (naturalistic foliage) and the Sassanian art of Mesopotamia (abstracted animals and symmetrical patterns) to create a uniquely Arabic art referred to as Arabesque.. A member of this family established the caliphate in Spain.

Abbasid Dynasty ( 750-1258): Overthrew the Umayyad and moved the capital to Baghdad in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
    Samarra, a city nearby became a center for pottery.

Lead glazed splash ware- red clay covered with white slip, painted with oxides and splashed with clear and colored lead glaze imitating Tang Dynasty three -colored glaze ware.

Barbotine ware - molded decorations of interlace and calligraphic designs left unglazed or covered in green or white glaze.

White tin glaze ware - Opaque tin glaze rediscovered. Applied to earthenware surface to create the appearance of Tang porcelain. Decorated the surface with cobalt. Tin glaze technique spread to the rest of the Islamic world and then into Europe from Spain.

Luster ware - Unique invention of Near East, first used on glass. A special mixture of gold, silver or copper sulfates were painted on fired glazed ware and fired a third time in a reduced atmosphere at a low temperature. Metal oxides were reduced to metal.

     Samanid Dynasty of Eastern Persia (874-999): Capital at Bukhara on the trade routes to the East and China.

    Nishapur and Samarkand, ceramic centers
            Developed stable underglazes by mixing pigments with clay and painting it on slip-coated         earthenware. Remained stable under clear glazes. Best known for simple designs using Kufic calligraphy.
        Sgraffito ware - Fine lines were scratched through the white slip in geometric designs then covered in lead glazes. Resemble chased metal ware.

    Fatimid Dynasty of Egypt (969-1171): Produced elegant lusterware in colors ranging from         rich copper reds to pale yellows. Showed Coptic Christian influences in the use of birds and animals.

MIDDLE ISLAMIC PERIOD (1150-1350) : Began with the invasion of a number of Turkish tribes from Central Asia , the Selijug and the Ottoman Turks. No central capital. Considered the "classic" period of Islamic ceramics. Ended with the invasion of the Mongols and their destruction of the whole Middle Eastern region.

Selijug Dynasty (1037-1231) Important ceramic centers in Kashan, Rayy and Gurgan.

In an effort to create porcelain, potters experimented with a composite body created out of crushed quartz, alkaline frit of potash and borax added to the clay. Created a soft paste body that lacked plasticity but when low fired was white, strong and translucent when thin. Became the dominant clay body in the Islamic world for the next 500 years.

Alkaline Frit glaze made a good fit with new clay body. Copper or cobalt made deep blue.

Laqabi method of carving raised lines in the clay body to keep the glazes from running.

Double walled carved ware, complicated and difficult double wall carved composite ware.

Mina'i ware was decorated with colored enamels. These pots were underglazed, dipped into clear glaze and then decorated in enamels. These enamels were low temperature glazes prepared in a frit form by melting the ingredients in a crucible and grinding them before applying them to the surface. The colors were true and didn't run in the lower fired temperature.

Lusterware was produced by potters who had moved back from Egypt. These designs were smaller and very complex.

 LATE ISLAMIC PERIOD (1350-1900)

Architectural Tiles: First used on Mosques in the 15th Century in Persia. Incorporated the "Seven Colors" or Haft Rang, because the number seven represented the Seven Heavenly Bodies. (Yellow, black, green, dark blue, turquoise, red, and white) Among the most outstanding tiled mosques still in existence can be found in Esfahan, Iran and Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Isnik, a city on the West Coast of Turkey became the center of ceramics for the Ottoman Turks who conquered Constantinople in 1453. Isnik ware had a composite clay body with white slip, underglazed, shiny transparent glaze with intricately painted enamel overglazing in realistic flowers and abstracted designs. Collected throughout Western Europe when Chinese Ming ceramics trade was cut off.
 

Bibliography:

Barry, Michael, Design and Color in Islamic Architecture, New York: 1996

Caiger-Smith, Alan, Lustre Pottery, New York: 1985.

Carnegy, Daphne, Tin-Glazed Earthenware, Radnor: 1993.

Cooper, Emmanuel, A History of World Pottery, Radnor: 1991.

Jenkins, Marilyn, Islamic Pottery, New York, 1983.

Kalter, J. and Pavaloi, M., Uzbekistan, New York: 1997.

Lane, Arthur, Late Islamic Pottery, London: 1971.

Rogers, J.M. and Ward, R.M., Suleyman the Magnificent, Secaucus: 1988.

Talbot Rice, David, Islamic Art, Norwich,: 1965.
 
 


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