Advances in Polychrome Ceramics in the Islamic World of the 12^th Century AD

Abstract

As part of a multidisciplinary programme of research on Islamic glazed pottery, the development of polychrome decoration during the 12th century AD has been investigated by examining polished sections through glazed pottery in an analytical scanning electron microscope. The two main decorative techniques used were underglaze and overglaze painting. The results suggest that true underglaze decoration, involving the application of pigment without any associated slip, was ®rst developed in Syria, from where it spread to Iran, on to China and ultimately across wide areas of the world. In contrast, the overglaze technique used on mina'i ware was both very short-lived and con®ned to Iran. The analytical results suggest that the probable explanation for this was the technical problems associated with maturing the overglaze paint and the consequent risk of unsatisfactory products.

Characterization of 17th Century Mughal tile glazes from Shahdara Complex, Lahore-Pakistan

“…The obtained glaze composition can be compared with other sodarich Islamic glazes reported from Iran and Syria but in contrast with the high lime content (5-10%) as determined by Mason et al (2001). However, the lime content of the studied glazes was up to 3.5%.…”

“…The studied glazes of uniform thickness were found to be alkali type applied on the white stonepaste body or quartz frit [20,24]. The obtained glaze composition can be compared with other sodarich Islamic glazes reported from Iran and Syria but in contrast with the high lime content (5-10%) as determined by Mason et al (2001).…”

“…The EPMA analysis (Table 1) revealed the presence of cobalt and copper. Historically cobalt was used in glazes to give enriched blue color [11,12,15,24,25]. Copper added in similar amounts (0.2-0.5%) to cobalt was reported to impart blue colour to some of the Indian glazes [26,27].…”

Material Characterization of Ceramic Tile Mosaic From Two 17th-Century Islamic Monuments in Northern India

“…Overall, the bodies are fundamentally stonepastes in the tradition of Islamic glazed pottery production—that is, consisting mostly of crushed quartz with minor amounts of clay or glass frit added as a binder—but are significantly coarser than those from medieval Islamic stonepaste, such as from Iznik (Paynter et al . 2004) or Syria and Iran (Mason et al . 2001).…”

Sienese ‘Archaic’ Majolica: A Technological Study of Ceramic Bodies and Coatings*

“…1998; Fabbri et al . 2000), second, the duration of the second firing, if any (Mason et al . 2001; Freestone 2002) and, third, the factors affecting the reactions between the glaze and the ceramic body (Molera et al .…”