The earliest lustres made by Islamic potters were begun as early as the mid-8th century, during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (AD 766-809), grandson of caliph al-Mansur. al-Rashid's court was widely recognized as an important center of learning, and the place of legendary arts and sciences as reflected in the Thousand and One Nights of Scheherazade. Many of the earliest lustres known today were recovered from the palace-complex at Samarra, begun in 836 and abandoned in 883.
Most of the serving vessels made for the Islamic courts of this period were made of gold, silver, bronze or glass. Pottery was still a novelty, and would only have been used in these courts if it were special indeed. Pottery used in al-Rashid's court was both glazed and interestingly colored; but still its use was limited to serving wine and small delicacies. In his book, Lustre Pottery: Technique, tradition, and innovation in Islam and the Western World, Alan Caiger-Smith argues that the invention of the lustre decoration may have made pottery serving vessels of sufficient quality to be used in the courts.
This cup from the British Museum collections shows a polychrome brown, green and yellow pattern, and because it contains relatively low amounts of lead oxide, the golden shine was not obtained. Lead oxide was added to the glazes quite erratically at first, and it was only when the potters used glazes with higher lead percentages that the golden green silver lustre was produced. See the vessel on page 2 for comparison.
Sources
This project is based on the ongoing research of Trinitat Pradell and colleagues. The main sources utilized for the project are listed on the definition page for lustreware. A timeline for the Islamic civilization is also available for consultation.
An excellent source for further information about Islamic ceramics in general with much data on lustres is the Ashmolean Museum's Web-Based Teaching Course on Islamic Ceramics.
