Author
Unknown
Publication Date
1200
Publication Place
Syria (made) -
Subject
Islam
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
Diameter: 24.4cm, Height: 12.4cm
Library
Victoria and Albert Museum
Library Asset ID
C.851-1922
Record ID
C.851-1922
Library Location
Middle East Section
Date
1200
Notes
This bowl is made from fritware (also called stone paste and quartz paste), an artificial ceramic body developed by Middle Eastern potters around the middle of the 11th century to imitate the hard, bright white body of imported Chinese porcelains. The main ingredient in fritware was fine quartz powder made by grinding sand or pebbles. Small quantities of white clay and a glassy substance known as frit were added â the clay to give plasticity, the frit to bind the body after firing. The fritware body was perfected in Kashan, a major pottery centre in Iran, during the 12th and early 13th centuries, and was used throughout the Middle East to produce fine ceramic wares decorated in an astonishing range of styles. The transparent glaze on this bowl clearly shows the bright whiteness of the ceramic body underneath. Four circles are painted onto the fritware body in turquoise blue. This pigment is applied under the glaze, which was another technique perfected in Iran in the late 12th century. It probably developed from earlier techniques of painting with slip, but the Kashan potters realised they could apply the slip very thinly, directly on to the ceramic body, which they did with extremely artistic results. However, the underglaze blue decoration seems to have just been the first phase of the decoration of this bowl. It was probably prepared to receive a second layer of decoration in lustre, an overglaze technique using metallic pigments derived from silver and copper, first invented in Iraq in the early 9th century. The lustre pigments were painted on the hard shiny surface of the pot after it had been glazed, and it was then refired in a reducing kiln (an atmosphere starved of oxygen). However, for some reason, this bowl was discarded before the lustre decoration was applied.
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Glaze, fritware (stone paste and quartz paste)
Fiziksel açıklama
Fritware "biconical bowl" with four, evenly spaced, turquoise blue circles on interior under a transparent glaze. No decoration on exterior. Probably prepared to receive lustre decoration, but left unfinished.
Üretim
Probably Raqqah
