Revisiting the origins of Islamic glazed pottery : a technological examination of 8th-10th century AD ceramics from Islamic lands
The beginnings of Islamic ceramics have long been attributed to the opaque white glazed wares made in Iraq in the 9<sup>th</sup> century in response to the imported Chinese porcelain and stoneware. These Islamic glazes were known to have been opacified by tin-oxide and much work has been undertaken to characterise their development and spread. However, little has been done to explain the origins of this technology and its invention in Iraq. This thesis takes a new approach to investigating the beginnings of Islamic glazed pottery. It examines the technical aspects of early Islamic glazed wares from the 7<sup>th</sup> to 10<sup>th</sup> century AD from the Eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia. A significant number of sherds from Fustat, Aqaba, Al-Mina, Raqqa, Samarra, Basra, Kish, Susa, Nishapur, Merv and Samarqand were sampled and analysed using a scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Particular focus was placed on the opaque yellow glazes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia (7<sup>th</sup>-9<sup>th</sup> century) and the opaque white glazes from Mesopotamia and Central Asia (9<sup>th</sup> -10<sup>th</sup> century). The analyses showed that the opaque
Matin, Moujan
Revisiting the origins of Islamic glazed pottery : a technological examination of 8th-10th century AD ceramics from Islamic lands. The beginnings of Islamic ceramics have long been attributed to the opaque white glazed wares made in Iraq in the 9<sup>th</sup> century in response to the imported Chinese porcelain and stoneware. These Islamic glazes were known to have been opacified by tin-oxide and much work has been undertaken to characterise their development and spread. However, little has been done to explain the origins of this technology and its invention in Iraq. This thesis takes a new approach to investigating the beginnings of Islamic glazed pottery. It examines the technical aspects of early Islamic glazed wares from the 7<sup>th</sup> to 10<sup>th</sup> century AD from the Eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia. A significant number of sherds from Fustat, Aqaba, Al-Mina, Raqqa, Samarra, Basra, Kish, Susa, Nishapur, Merv and Samarqand were sampled and analysed using a scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Particular focus was placed on the opaque yellow glazes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia (7<sup>th</sup>-9<sup>th</sup> century) and the opaque white glazes from Mesopotamia and Central Asia (9<sup>th</sup> -10<sup>th</sup> century). The analyses showed that the opaque
revisiting origin islamic glaze pottery technological examination ceramic islamic land beginning islamic ceramic long attribute opaque white glaze ware make iraq response import chinese porcelain islamic glaze know tin oxide much work_undertaken characterise development spread however_little explain origin technology invention iraq take new investigate beginning islamic glaze pottery examines technical_aspect early_islamic glaze ware eastern mediterranean central_asia significant_number sherd sample analyse_use scan_electron microscope equip energy_dispersive spectroscopy sem_eds particular_focus place opaque yellow glaze eastern mediterranean mesopotamia opaque white glaze mesopotamia central_asia th_century analysis_show opaque