Persian pottery
Persian pottery or Iranian pottery is the pottery made by the artists of
There were two types of earthenware that were prevalent in Iran around 4,000 BC: red and black ceramics that were simplistic in their decorative style.[2] As the art expanded, earthenware incorporated geometric designs which resulted in a more developed decorative style. This increasingly complex style was accompanied by the creation of a wider variety of the kinds of pottery that were made.
In the prehistoric period, the production of vessels included the mixture of clay, small pieces of various plants and straws, and water. When these ingredients were mixed together, they formed a very hard paste which essentially became the paste used for the base for creating all vessels in Iran. The creation of Vessels differed in the shape because they were made by hand. Around the 4th millennium BCE, the quality of vessel production enhanced because the potter's wheel was introduced.[2] This table was used to produce symmetrically shaped, and better quality vessels.
The Islamic prohibition on using vessels made of precious metal at the table meant that a new market for luxury ceramics opened up. This allowed the pre-Islamic elites of the earlier
Early pottery from Susa
Susa was firmly within the Sumerian Uruk cultural sphere during the Uruk period. An imitation of the entire state apparatus of Uruk, proto-writing, cylinder seals with Sumerian motifs, and monumental architecture, is found at Susa. Susa may have been a colony of Uruk. As such, the periodization of Susa corresponds to Uruk; Early, Middle and Late Susa II periods (3800–3100 BCE) correspond to Early, Middle, and Late Uruk periods.
Shortly after Susa was first settled 6000 years ago, its inhabitants erected a temple on a monumental platform that rose over the flat surrounding landscape. The exceptional nature of the site is still recognizable today in the artistry of the ceramic vessels that were placed as offerings in a thousand or more graves near the base of the temple platform. Nearly two thousand pots were recovered from the cemetery and now, most of them now are located in the Louvre; one such vessel is the Bushel with ibex motifs. The vessels found are eloquent testimony to the artistic and technical achievements of their makers, and they hold clues about the organization of the society that commissioned them.[3] Painted ceramic vessels from Susa in the earliest first style are a late, regional version of the Mesopotamian Ubaid ceramic tradition that spread across the Near East during the fifth millennium B.C.[3]
Susa I style was very much a product of the past and of influences from contemporary ceramic industries in the mountains of western Iran. The recurrence in close association of vessels of three types—a drinking goblet or beaker, a serving dish, and a small jar—implies the consumption of three types of food, apparently thought to be as necessary for life in the after world as it is in this one. Ceramics of these shapes, which were painted, constitute a large proportion of the vessels from the cemetery. Others are course cooking-type jars and bowls with simple bands painted on them and were probably the grave goods of the sites of humbler citizens as well as adolescents and, perhaps, children.[4] The pottery is carefully made by hand. Although a slow wheel may have been employed, the asymmetry of the vessels and the irregularity of the drawing of encircling lines and bands indicate that most of the work was done freehand.
Early Islamic period
The
Nishapur is a city located in North-east Iran, and was founded by the Sasanian ruler Shapur I around 241–272 AD.[7] This city fell under the rule of Islam around 651 and essentially became a city of flourishing arts and crafts. Some of the art produced was earthenware, glass, metalwork, coins, decorative walls, and carved and painted stucco (Wilkinson, 26).[8] The production of earthenware vessels, ceramics, and other forms of art were being exported around their neighboring villages. This kept their political power on the rise because they were able to dictate the areas where their art could be imported. Ceramics was one of the art that was imported and unique to the neighboring cities of Nishapur. One of the most common group of ceramic was called buff ware.[9] The buff ware are characterized by images with purple and black outline painted on to the vessel. The buff ware also included the mixture of yellow and green glazes.
Seljuk period
This golden age largely came to an end with the
Mina'i ware
Innovations in Seljuk pottery include the production of
It is significant as the first pottery to use
Most pieces are dated imprecisely as, for example, "late 12th or early 13th century", but the few inscribed dates begin in the 1170s and end in 1219.
Most pieces are bowls, cups, and a range of pouring vessels: ewers, jars, and jugs, only a handful very large. There are some pieces considered to be begging bowls, or using the shape associated with that function. Tiles are rare, and were perhaps designed as centrepieces surrounded by other materials, rather than placed in groups.[17] Mina'i tiles found in situ by archaeologists at Konya in modern Turkey were probably made there by itinerant Persian artists.[18] Sherds of mina'i ware have been excavated from "most urban sites in Iran and Central Asia" occupied during the period,[19] although most writers believe that nearly all production was in Kashan.[20]
One of the most famous examples of the mina'i ware technique is the large bowl now at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC. This image depicts a battle that occurred between the Turkish emirs in the Northwest regions of Iran. The front of the plate depicts a siege of the castle, and the back portrayed hunting. This plate is one of the largest haft in existence. It incorporates inscriptions used to identify the protagonist of the story. The landscapes and architectural elements used in the Freer Gallery's Siege Scene plate makes the art unique. The overall story of the plate reveals the victory for the besiegers and defeat for the besieged.[21]
One potter, Abū Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd (active c. 1186 – 1219, Kashan) has signed 15 surviving pieces, in both mina'i and lustreware, more than any other medieval Iranian potter.[22]
Safavid period
The study and dating of ceramics under
In general, the designs tend to imitate those of Chinese porcelain, with the production of blue and white pieces with Chinese form and motifs, with motifs such as chi clouds, and dragons.
Numerous types of pieces were produced: goblets, plates, long-necked bottles, spittoons, etc. A common shape is flasks with very small necks and bodies flattened on one side and very rounded on the other. Shapes borrowed from Islamic metalwork with decoration largely inspired by Chinese porcelain are characteristic.[25] With the closing of the Chinese market in 1659, Persian ceramic soared to new heights, to fulfill European needs. The appearance of false marks of Chinese workshops on the backs of some ceramics marked the taste that developed in Europe for far-eastern porcelain, satisfied in large part by Safavid production. This new destination led to wider use of Chinese and exotic iconography (elephants) and the introduction of new forms, sometimes astonishing (hookahs, octagonal plates, animal-shaped objects).
Gombroon ware was an 18th-century type of delicate pierced ware, looking rather like glass, often with inscriptions.[26]
Contemporary
Kalpuregan village in south east Iran maintains a traditional pottery tradition. Unusually, the potting is performed by women, though men dig, refine and fire the clay. The pottery wheel is not used. Painted decoration is abstract symbols and patterns.[27]
Collections
There are large collections of Persian pottery at the British Museum, the Hermitage Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, and elsewhere. In 2013, the Royal Ontario Museum, in partnership with Brill Publishers in the Netherlands, published a special book about this art entitled "Persian Pottery in the First Global Age".[28]
See also
Notes
- ^ "The History of Persian Ceramics". California Academy of Sciences. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2014-07-09.
- ^ a b c "Art of Pottery in Iran". www.iranreview.org. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
- ^ a b Aruz, Joan (1992). The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. New York: Abrams. p. 26.
- ^ Aruz, Joan (1992). The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. New York: Abrams. p. 29.
- ^ McWilliams, Mary. "Bowl Inscribed with a Saying of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib". Harvard Art Museums. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
- ^ Volov, Lis (1966). "Plaited Kufic on Samanid Epigraphic Pottery". Ars Orientalis. 6 (1966): 107–33.
- .
- ^ Wilkinson, Charles (1973). "NISHAPUR: POTTERY OF THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
- ^ "NISHAPUR vii. Excavations by the Metropolitan – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
- ^ Canby (2016), # 22
- ^ Grube mentions a bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum dated 1242, but this is not mentioned by later writers.
- ^ a b c Yale, 175
- ^ Suleman, 144
- ^ Caiger-Smith, 57
- ^ Watson, 326
- ^ Suleman, 144; Grube
- ^ Canby (2016), #s 19, 20
- ^ Canby (2016), 82–83, 315, note 12 on #20
- ^ Canby (2016), 318, note 6 on #37
- ^ Watson, 329; Yale, 177-178
- ^ HOLOD, Renata (2012). EVENT AND MEMORY: The Freer Gallery's Siege Scene Plate. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C: ARS ORIENTALIS Volume. pp. 195, 196.
- ^ "Abu Zayd." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed February 5, 2012; subscription required).
- ^ Canby (2009), 101-104, 121-123, 137-159
- ^ a b Blair & Bloom, 171
- ^ Canby (2009), 162-163, 218-219
- ^ "Gombroon ware | pottery". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ Art, Far Way. "Indigenous pottery in Kalpuregan (Iran)". Far Way Art. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
- ISBN 9789004260924. Retrieved 2014-07-09.
References
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- Blair, Sheila, and Bloom, Jonathan M., The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250–1800, 1995, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, ISBN 0300064659
- ISBN 0571135072
- Canby (2009), Canby, Sheila R. (ed), 2009, Shah Abbas; The Remaking of Iran, 2009, British Museum Press, ISBN 9780714124520
- Canby (2016), Canby, Sheila R., and others (Deniz Beyazit, Martina Rugiadi, A. C. S. Peacock), Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 2016, Metropolitan Museum of Art, google books
- Piotrovsky M.B. and Rogers, J.M. (eds), Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands, 2004, Prestel, ISBN 3791330551
- Grube, Ernst J., “CERAMICS xiv. The Islamic Period, 11th–15th centuries,”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, V/3,
- Osborne, Harold (ed), The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts, 1975, OUP, ISBN 0198661134
- Suleman, Fahmida, "Ceramics", in Medieval Islamic Civilization: an Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, 2006, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0415966914, 9780415966917, google books
- "Yale": Richard Ettinghausen, ISBN 9780300088694
- Watson, Oliver, "Pottery under the Mongols" in Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, 2012, BRILL, Ed. Linda Komaroff, ISBN 9004243402, 9789004243408, google books