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 Kufic Ceramic |
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Muslim potters absorbed and developed techniques that led to three types of pottery during the early Islamic period (9th-11th centuries):
tin-glaze wares, slip-painted wares and lustre wares. These bowls are slip-painted wares.
The finely grained buff or red earthenware bodies of these wares were covered with a white clay slip and then with a clear colourless glaze.
The potters discovered that, by mixing the pigment and the glaze with some clay, they were able to produce more varied and refined designs.
This pottery was produced in several places, but in particular at two major centres: Nishapur in North Eastern Iran and Samarkand in Central
Asia (modern-day Uzbekistan). A general prohibition of the representation of living beings in the arts, although not observed by all Muslims,
led to the development of floral and geometric designs that included calligraphy.
Bowls made in the 10th and 11th centuries were often decorated with beautiful calligraphic inscriptions that were in complete harmony with the
shape of the vessel. At no other time in the history of Islamic pottery did inscriptions play such a major decorative role. These two bowls
belong to this period.
The bowl on the top right is decorated with a kufic inscription that reads: "Generosity is a disposition of the dweller of Paradise. He Said."
In strong contrast, the bowl on the bottom right is almost completely covered by an elaborately designed inscription that appears to be a repetition
of "be pious."
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