One of the many inventions of the great Islamic civilization was lustreware, a metallic pottery decorative technique. When the lustreware technique is done properly, exposure to light sets a mysterious gold flicker to dance on the surfaces of the pots.
Monochrome Lustreware Cup - 10th Century Iraq. Trinitat Pradell, from the collections of the British Museum
Lustreware was invented in the 8th century AD by a small guild of Islamic ceramicists living in the Iraqi towns of Baghdad and Basra. They used copper, silver, and lead to make the gold lights flicker on the pot surface. They were true alchemists, turning base metals into what appeared to be gold.
A recent set of papers appearing in the Journal of Archaeological Science written by researcher Trinitat Pradell of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Spain, and several colleagues, reports on their investigations into what nano-sized alchemy was at work in the potters' kilns. Pradell et al's fascinating research into the science and history of ancient lustrewares provided me with a terrific excuse to put together Islamic Lustreware: A Photo Essay of its Origins and Techniques.
Comments
Beautiful. Thank you for posting these!
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Very nice article and extra nice gallery of visuals. Having studied some ceramic and hot glass techniques, I’m aware of a number of different ways that lusters and irridescence are achieved, all of them a testament to the artisan’s historic attention to the details of their craft and their long legacy which they passed down through the ages.
I’m currently reading Needham’s “the Genius of China” and while these examples of Lusters are attributed Islamic traditions, it’s hard to escape the likelihood of the ceramic traditions of China not being a most significant aspect.