In 1169, the potter's quarters in Fustat, Egypt were burned, and it is believed that the guild of lustreware potters fled to in Syria. The first lustres made in the Syrian town of Raqqa resemble the decorative style of Fatimid Egypt, but the clay was much improved now, a fine white-bodied clay.
The Raqqa potteries were quite prolific and produced a wide variety of wares including white-slips, chocolate-brown lustres, underglaze painted wares, turquoise wares, as well as Lakabi wares and Tel Minis wares previously thought to have been made elsewhere. Lustres were only a small part of the Raqqa repertoire. Unlike earlier lustres, the Raqqa examples were not restricted to court use. Many of their lustred forms were bowls, pitchers, ewers, albarelos and large jars. The lustre designs were often combined with cobalt blue underglaze decoration.
The pot illustrated in this photograph has a chocolate brown lustre made of copper and silver, the brown resulting from a richer copper admixture than any other lustre form. This pot combines a blue cobalt paint which was fired at the same time as the glaze and the ceramic, a stonepaste ware. Lustre and cobalt blue decorations appear combined in Syria and in Iran from late 12th to the beginning of the 13th centuries onwards. Syrian Raqqa ceramics were produced during a very short period (about 30-40 years), but they are particularly beautiful because the artist had a secure hand while painting and a particularly free style, that gives movement and originality to the designs. These ceramics are not of particularly high technological quality, but the artistic value of the paintings is very high. Raqqa ceramics are quite "abstract", and very much of modern taste.
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.
