Some early Islamic pottery wares, primarily in the eastern part of the empire, bear striking similarities to Chinese ceramics that were imported into the Islamic world. However, Islamic potters did not have access to the delicate porcelain used by the Chinese. Instead they used local earthenware clay that did not require the higher temperatures and oftentimes multiple firings of fine porcelain wares. But to achieve the look of the Chinese wares, "the potter had to hide the local clay body with an opaque white glaze" (Bloom and Blair 108). "The Chinese influence is limited to the shape of these pieces, the majority of which are small bowls with low feet, flaring sides, and everted rims. A white opaque glaze-achieved by an underfired alkaline glaze or by mixing tin oxide with a lead glaze-covers the earthenware body of these wares" (Atil 60).
The presence of inscriptions on early Islamic pottery is indicative of the wide use of Arabic writing as ornament throughout the Islamic empires. Whereas the use of inscriptions on architectural surfaces quoted the Koran, early Islamic potters used Arabic script to bear "aphorisms, proverbs, or good wishes to the owner" of the piece (Atil 70). Scholars sometimes find it difficult to translate or read the inscriptions on pottery. Oftentimes, the text applied is difficult to interpret or does not make sense. Some scholars believe that the use of lettering on Islamic ceramics could have, at times, been simply ornamental (Bloom and Blair 109). "However, it would be wrong to underrate the significance of this apparently meaningless lettering [...] The Orient has at all times considered script as something mysterious, conveying some magical virtue, hence its extensive use in all industrial arts and the seriousness and admiration with which it is universally regarded" (Flury, S.; SOPA 1748).
A particular form of script seen on early Islamic pottery in the eastern portion of the empire was Kufic, "associated with the city of Kufa in Iraq, which was a centre of Koran scholarship. Since the eighteenth century Western scholarships have conventionally [...] applied this name to all scripts in which angular letters are posed on a horizontal base line" (Bloom and Blair 69). "The shafts of its individual letters being attached to a horizontal base line, the lettering naturally assumes the shape of an ornamental border, which can be easily adapted to any surface that is to be decorated" (Flury, S.; SOPA 1743).
Periods Represented:
745-945: Abbasid Caliphs control Islamic empire; capital is Baghdad
932-1062: Buyid Dynasty, Iran and Iraq; took control of Baghdad in 945
819-1005: Samanid Dynasty, NE Iran; founded cities of Nishapur and Samarqand
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BOWL
Mesopotamia; 9th Century; Abbasid Period; Diameter 9 1/2"; Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde, Munich; Bloom and Blair. Islamic Arts.
Description: "One example of an Islamic version of Chinese wares is a flat earthenware bowl painted in cobalt blue on an opaque white glaze. The low and open shape derives from Chinese models, but because he lacked the fine white clay of China, the potter had to hide the local clay body with an opaque white glaze. [...] On the interior of this bowl four sprays of leaves surround a central block of three lines of [Kufic] text which reads, 'Blessing to the owner; the work of Muhammed the...' (the last word is illegible)" (Bloom and Blair, 108-9).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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BOWL
Iran 10th Century; Samanid Period; Diameter 15 ½"; Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Bloom and Blair. Islamic Arts.
Description: "Made of buff-coloured earthenware covered with a fine white slip, painted in red and dark brown slips, and covered with a transparent colourless glaze, the bowl is notable for its size and fine interior decoration. The centre is filled with an abstracted plant motif which grows from a single stem and branches out into five leaves that encircle a stylized floral image, but the major decoration is a wide band of elegant angular [Kufic] script around the sides. The Arabic text begins after a small decorative motif at about 4 o'clock: 'Blessing to its owner', and continues after a small teardrop motif at 8 o'clock with the proverb: 'It is said that he who is content with his own opinion runs into danger" (Bloom and Blair 248-9).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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BOWL
Mesopotamia; 9th-10th Century; Samanid Period; Diameter 14"; Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Description: Seated figure playing stringed instrument; inscription near head of figure.
Image courtesy of Colorado College library.
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PLATTER
Nishapur, Iran; 9th Century; Abbasid Period; Diameter 10 ½"; Private Collection; Tehran
Description: Floriated scrolls with Kufic inscription along outer edge
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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BOWL
Mesopotamia; 9th-10th Century; Buyid Period; Treasures of Islam; Private Collection
Description: "Tin-glazed earthenware, with Kufic inscription in blue […] This bowl shows the first development of 'Islamic' ornament on a bowl which otherwise, in its shape and use of an opaque white glaze, is a close copy of an imported Chinese porcelain. The inscription, placed in startlingly dramatic position, presents problems in its reading. The first two words (mimma amilahu) read 'made by…'. The last word appears to repeat the second, making no sense. It is possibly a calligraphic conceit, with the name "Muhammed' disguised in the repetition. These wares give prominence to the name of the artist to a degree unprecedented in any other Islamic pottery, or indeed in artifacts in any other medium. Muhammed, if that be the potter's name, is known through several other surviving works" (Treasures of Islam 210).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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BOWL
Iraq; 9th Century; Abbasid Period; Diameter 7 ¾"; Atil. Islamic Art and Patronage; Kuwait National Museum
Description: Bowl with blue Kufic inscription in Arabic meaning "blessing" (Atil 60-1).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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PLATE
Iraq; 9th Century; Abbasid Period; Diameter 14 ½"; Atil. Islamic Art and Patronage; Kuwait National Museum
Description: "Luster-painted ceramic plate with inscription. […] The center of the plate is filled with stylized floral branches with checkered leaves, encircled by a frieze of ovals. The flattened rim contains the Arabic word for 'sovereignty,' written in Kufic, repeated three times, and separated by panels with strokes, dots, and peacock eyes, that is, small circles with central dots" (Atil 66-7).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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BOWL
Iran; 10th Century; Buyid Period; Diameter 7 ¾"; Atil. Islamic Art and Patronage; Kuwait National Museum
Description: Slip-painted bowl with brown/black Kufic inscription; proverb reads, "He who talks too much, errs much (Atil 70-1).
Image courtesy of Colorado College slide library.
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PLATE
Samarqand, Transoxiana; 10th Century; Samanid Period; Diameter 36.8cm; Seven Millennia of Persian Pottery: The Gluck Collection; Tekisui Museum: Ashiya, Japan
Description: Quadrilateral layout with pomegranate and palmette leaves; Kufic inscription around border
Image taken from Seven Millennia of Persian Pottery.
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Bibliography
Atil, Esin, ed. Islamic Art and Patronage: Treasures from Kuwait. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.
Bamborough, Philip. Treasures of Islam. New York: Arco Publishing, 1977.
Bloom, Jonathan and Sheila Blair. Islamic Arts. New York and London: Phaidon Press, 1997, reprinted 1998 and 2002.
Gluck, Jay and Sumi. Seven Millennia of Persian Pottery. Ashiya, Japan: Tekisui Museum, 1978.
Graber, Oleg. Formation of Islamic Art. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1973, third printing 1978.
Hobson, R.L. A Guide to the Islamic Pottery of the Near East. Great Britain: Order of the Trustees, 1932.
Irwin, Robert. Islamic Art in Context. New York: Abrams, 1997.
Melikian-Chirvani, A.S., et al. Treasures of Islam. Avon, Englang: Artline, 1985.
Upham, Arthur and Phyllis Ackerman, eds. A Survey of Persian Art (SOPA): From Prehistoric Times to the Present.Vol. IV.New York: Maxwell Aley Literary Associates, 1964.
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Contact author via email at:
tl_clark@ColoradoCollege.edu