The art of pottery in the Islamic period

The art of pottery in the Islamic period , Pottery in the Islamic period, Pottery, Handicrafts, Pottery, Pottery and Ceramics

Early pottery of the Islamic pottery in the first three centuries is exactly the continuation of the art of pottery of the Sassanid period. The pottery of the Sassanid period, due to its greater attention to practical use, has been quite simple and to the extent of meeting daily needs; Because the use of silver and gold ceremonial and decorative utensils with symbolic motifs related to Zoroastrian beliefs and scenes from the lives of kings such as hunting, feasts and public gatherings did not leave room for potters to perform. The pottery of this period was made in the form of short necklaces and handles with thick edges and flat and unglazed dishes with molded patterns. Accepting Islam in the vast Sassanid realm and changing the culture from luxury to simplicity, simplicity and simplicity of life causes the production of decorative works of gold and silver to become obsolete and once again the attention of potters to the manufacture of pottery.

“Since the pottery of the Sassanid period was made in a simple way, the continuation and style of these pottery was accepted in the Islamic period, and the pottery industry once again flourished and led to the development of pottery activity. The characteristics of Islamic art, the simplicity of which first manifests itself in the immortality of Islamic philosophy and the color and transparency of the glazes made, which is itself part of Islamic alchemy, perfects its religious sanctity by using the Kufic script and giving it true beauty. The art of pottery of the Islamic period is derived from a combination of philosophy, wisdom, and art, and the earthly crystallization is the spirit of Islamic revelations, such as the reflection of celestial truths on earth, the reflection by which the Muslim artist travels to the world where God is present. “It does, and it comes down to the truth that this art is the origin and the end.” An examination of the designs and uses of glaze on dishes in the Islamic period shows the fact that the potter of the Islamic period is in some way connected with Islamic philosophy and is constantly looking for beauty and does not pay much attention to the practical benefits. In general, pottery of the Islamic period can be classified into three groups:

A) Early Islamic period
1. Umayyad and early Abbasid pottery
2. Glossy painted pottery of the Fatimid period
3. Containers embossed with flower slurry or flower cover (floral glaze)

B) The middle of the Islamic period
1. Persian graphite dishes
2. Beautiful dishes of the Seljuk period of Iran
3. Anatolian Seljuk dishes
4. Explore pottery
5. Unglazed pottery in the middle of the Islamic period

C) Late Islamic period
1. Iranian pottery in the patriarchal and Timurid periods
2. Pottery from Egypt and Syria
3. Safavid pottery of the Safavid and Qajar periods of Iran
4. Ottoman pottery in Anatolia
Pottery in the Islamic era was originally in the form of simple pottery without glaze. Although potters from the Parthian period were somewhat familiar with the turquoise green glaze with considerable transparency and then with the green glaze of alkali and matte during the Sassanid period, there is evidence that potters of the early Islamic centuries (first and second centuries AH) had two categories of pottery: A) unglazed pottery; B) Glazed pottery.

1. Role: This type of pottery dough is usually red, pea and gray. Silver motifs (scratches with a sharp object on pottery that have not yet cooled) include trunks, waves, zigzags, dotted lines, vertical and horizontal parallel lines, and sometimes plant motifs. The shape of dishes is often convex jars with short and sometimes elongated necks, and pots and small vertical handles are usually two, four, and more, and smaller utensils such as bowls and drinking bowls, which are among the most populous cities of that period, such as Neishabour, Rey, Jorjan, Shush, and Istkhr. Is obtained .
Many researchers have discovered pottery unearthed from Samarra, the Abbasid capital, in a short period of time that the German delegation had excavated there. They did not know the examples of early Islamic pottery and the basis of comparison; However, with the continuation of excavations in other Islamic cities and the discovery of pottery from this period, new information was obtained, and now the pottery of this period is considered to be related to the two periods of Al-Buwayh and Samani and the basis of comparison.
2. Template role: This type of decoration can be seen on smaller unglazed pottery, especially in containers whose bodies are not perfectly spherical and sometimes imitated by multi-faceted metal utensils. These motifs are usually created with a mold on the body and in larger containers, on the shoulders and thicker parts of the dishes, and usually the subject is geometric and plant designs. During this period, Kufic calligraphy was not common on pottery, and by the end of the second century AH, writing on leather was common in the simple Kufic script, which is an imitation and abbreviation of the Nabataean script. The shape of these dishes is usually jars, vases and bowl-shaped drinking fountains, which have been found in scientific excavations in the cities of Rey and Neishabour.

3 – Prominent or added decorations: In this method, which is also called barbonin method, before cooking pottery with a special funnel, relatively thick flowers are placed on the desired shapes on the dish, usually animal and human designs, mythical maps, the subject of this type of decoration It is an adaptation of the designs of Achaemenid and Sassanid metal utensils. The shape of the dishes includes large potted jars and smaller pots made in the cities of Rey and Saveh.
4. Color Decorations: Archaeological excavations have not yielded much of this type of pottery, and what has been found is that most of the pottery’s paint has faded and is less recognizable due to poor conditioning. In general, it is inferred from the decorative and engraved paintings of Shush that potters used this method to decorate glazed dishes. The motifs continue to be geometric and decorative Islamic designs.

B) Glazed pottery
In the first and second centuries AH, there was no variation in the color of the glaze, and as mentioned, due to the Sassanid period, when green alkali and matte green glaze was common, green color was used in a limited range such as spicy green and jasmine. And the dishes are decorated in the form of small jars and relatively deep bowls with this glaze. In the scientific studies of Neishabour, one of the centers for making this type of pottery has been identified and introduced.
The study of the oldest glazes made in the Middle East seems a bit complicated, but the preparation and use of a type of turquoise alkali glaze in Mesopotamia in the fifth millennium BC has been seen to decorate and cover small objects that were a combination of ferrite and quartz and Egyptian glaze. It is also famous. A more general use of this type of glaze was identified in the middle of the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Crete, and later a variety of multicolored glazes in the Mycenaean civilization. Egyptian glaze has been found in Egyptian tombs, especially in the tomb of Akhenaten (1388-1424 BC) in Tel Amrna. The development of glaze-making technology in Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC provides valuable evidence of the specimens found in Tel Omar in the 17th century BC, and the chemical decomposition of that type of alkaline glaze combined with animton, which produces a yellow color, It is less common with light green copper.

As to where and when the alkali glaze or clay glaze was first developed, it is due to the efforts of the people of the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia; Because along with the construction of Assyrian and Babylonian palaces, the use of baked decorative glazed bricks, clay glazed vessels were also built in Mesopotamia. During the same period, the Greeks also used alkali glaze as a coating on dishes and pots.
Skills in making and decorating these types of dishes and recording many writings of that period in terms of reviewing comparative texts and examining the evolution of Kufic calligraphy and vocabulary in the early Islamic centuries and in order to write and graphically shape its sensitivity and attention to the importance of studying pottery Makes the third and fourth necessary.
The pottery of the third and fourth centuries AH is the beginning of the cultural and economic efforts in the life of the society; After two simple biological centuries and the elimination of luxury and the generalization of the possibilities of society, the grounds for the growth and development of human thought have been provided, so that the flourishing of these activities can be seen in the fourth century AH. In this century, Muslim scholars, especially Iranians, presented the results of Greek philosophical thought in the form of scientific and practical experiences in the field of science and technology, and translated Greek and Sanskrit books and compiled Arabic and Persian books. They provided for prosperity.