MATERIALS

Materials

Ceramics

Ceramics

Within the field of ceramics, China was the great source of inspiration for the Middle East. Although Muslim potters never managed to make coveted porcelain, they did invent tin-glazed earthenware: faience. They further developed fritware, introduced lusterware and underglaze painting, and mastered many other decoration techniques.

In 13th-century Iran, there were so many different types of ceramics that no comparable variation was found until the 19th century, in Europe.

Although ceramics can break, it does not decompose and cannot be recycled, so this is the group of works of art from the Islamic world that is best preserved.

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ISLAMIC ART: CERAMICS

Islamic Art: Ceramics

Item no. 7 of 52
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Earthenware albarello, painted in blue in, and with two tones of luster over, an opaque, white glaze

Manises, Spain; 1st half of 15th century
H: 29.5 cm

Both faience and the luster technique reached Muslim Spain from Iraq by way of Egypt. In the middle of the 13th century, high-quality lusterware was made in Malaga, from which it spread with Muslim craftsmen to Christian Spain. This “Spanish-Moorish” pottery was exported e.g. to Italy, where it was called majolica or faience, after the island Mallorca and the town of Faenza.

A jar with concave sides is called an albarello, probably from the Spanish-Arabic word al-barrada – a jug. The type was most often used in pharmacies, since the shape made it easy to grasp the jars even when they stood in lines.

Inv. no. 14/1990