The technological development of stonepaste ceramics from the Islamic Middle East
Abstract The microstructures and chemical compositions of stonepaste bodies from the Islamic Middle East, typically produced from a mixture of ten parts crushed quartz, one part crushed glass and one part white clay, are investigated using analytical scanning electron microscopy. For comparison, replicate stonepaste bodies are produced in the laboratory at firing temperatures in the range 900–1200 °C, and are similarly examined. The stonepaste bodies are divided into four primary microstructural groups that reflect the increasing reaction during firing of the glass fragments with the clay and quartz particles. The observed microstructures are then used to assess the geographical and chronological variations in the production technology of stonepaste ceramics from Egypt, Syria, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkey, spanning the period from 11th to 17th centuries AD.
The Petrography of Iranian Safavid Ceramics
Blue-and-white pottery from Iran dating to between about ad 1550 andad 1700 were subjected to petrographic analysis in order to characterize groups which may be attributed to production at specific centres. Five discrete groups were characterized, and these are tentatively attributed to the historically known principal centres of ceramic production. The results question previous attributions based on art-historical evidence, and indicate those characteristics in design and decoration which may be used to attribute unsampled wares to specific production centres.
The technology of fifteenth century Turkish tiles: An interim statement on the origins of the Iznik industry
Abstract Study of the technology of Turkish tiles and pottery during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries reveals a complex of technical features. The variation, particularly in the technology of tile bodies in the fifteenth century, contrasts with the consistent use of an alkali‐lead frit and a slip layer for the Ottoman pottery of Iznik from about 1475 until the seventeenth century. This paper considers what the development of the ceramic technology in the fifteenth century reveals about the genesis of the Iznik pottery.