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While the shapes and the greyish-white surface more or less successfully
imitated the Chinese prototypes, Islamic potters were not entirely satisfied and soon began
to decorate the greyish-white surface of these vessels first with cobalt-blue, then also with
antimony-yellow and copper-green coloured designs. These designs were comparatively simple:
flowers, threes, undulating scrolls, or simply Kufic inscriptions giving the names of the
artist who painted them. Accordingly, these painted tin-glazed vessels were considered as
entirely the inventions and products of the Near Eastern potters
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. Furthermore, it was also
believed that such painted wares were exclusively made in the Near East. It was therefore a
great surprise, when in recent excavations in China, the excavators brought to light similarly
decorated white porcelain fragments dating back to the latter part of the Tang period (the
late ninth and early tenth century). Although the exact date of these excavated Chinese
porcelains in still not known, the designs appear to be faithful copies of their Near Eastern
counterparts.
Towards the end of the ninth or early tenth century, a new decorative
technique was applied on these tin-glazed wares: lustre painting. The technique which involves
two firings, uses silver and copper oxides for decoration. First the vessels are fired, then
the decoration is applied over the surface of the vessels. This is followed by a second firing
in a reduced kiln, when the oxides use up all the available oxygen and, in the process, form
a very thin layer of shiny surface which almost becomes one with the body. This decorative
technique was not unknown in the Near East. It was already practised by Coptic glass-makers
in Egypt in pre-Islamic times. The colour of these lustre-painted glass decorations was ruby
red. Thus, it is not surprising, that when the potters (or decorators tried to apply this
technique on pottery, they used exactly the same ruby colour. The Kuwait excavations at
Bahnasa/Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, brought to light such experimental pottery fragments on which
the ruby colour was over-fires and burnt in the kiln.
The technique was soon perfected and was applied on tin-glazed pottery not
only in ruby but also in polychrome colours, using several shades of brown, yellow and green.
Such polychrome-painted lustre vessels and even tiles were discovered in the excavated palaces
and private houses of Samarra. Also such tiles decorate the surface of the mihrab prayer
niche of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia. The designs of these polychrome lustre
vessels and tiles include mainly vegetal, floral or geometric patterns. Nevertheless,
occasionally birds, hares, serpents or even cockerels can be seen on these wares (for example,
on the tiles which were excavated in the Jausaq al-Khaqani Palace at Samarra). Such early
polychrome lustre-painted vessels are well-represented in the Rajab Museum
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. By the middle
of the tenth century lustre decoration becomes monochrome, but the colours of such vessels
range from yellowish-green to golden-green. There is also a great change in the design:
animals, birds and human figures are now depicted, some revealing interesting details
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.
By then the production of monochrome lustre-painted vessels had spread from Egypt and Iraq to
Syria and even to North Africa. Lustre painting received a new impetus in Egypt during the
Fatimid (969-1171) period, when the decoration became more refined and frequently depicted
scenes from everyday life.
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