The Imitation of Porcelain

At the end of the 8th century, Chinese porcelains and stoneware was imported in large quantities to Baghdad. By the ninth century,  Baghdad and Samarra, a city fifty miles north of Baghdad became one of centers of Islamic ceramic, producing imitations of Chinese porcelain from the T'ang Dynasty. The ceramics that they received were likely, of the Sancai style, a technique using three different pigments, and of single color wares, all exhibiting a luster achieved from glazing and firing. Figure one is an example of the glossy finish that the Chinese porcelains exhibited. The creation of true porcelain requires the use of white kaolin clay, and the powder of porcelain stone, however, potters from Samarra and Baghdad did not have access to these materials, so they had to experiment with different ways to create the coveted qualities of Chinese porcelain. They  modified the contents of their glazes, adding tin and lead to achieve a surface quality similar to that of porcelain, resulting in products similar to figure two . This bowl, from the 9th century, exhibits the desired qualities of the Iraqi potters, while including elements of Chinese and Islamic design, particularly, calligraphy, a form of ornamentation not often seen in Chinese pottery. One century later, in Nishapur, Iran, bowls created using the epigraphic technique, such as figure three, display lustrous white backgrounds similar to those achieved by the ceramics created in Samarra. In thirteenth century Kashan, Iran, a distinct technique for creating the white body as seen in figure four was invented, involving the use of quartz fine clay, and glass particles. We are able to see the influence that 8th century Chinese porcelains had on Islamic pottery through the diffusion of the white body in pottery techniques throughout West and Central Asia. These influences of the East on the West would provide the groundwork for the West to them influence the cultures and techniques of the East. 

Works Cited: 

Ettinghausen, Richard. 2001. Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250. Yale University Press New Haven.

Grube, E. J. (1965). The Art of Islamic Pottery . New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Nilson, J.-E. (2014) Chinese Porcelain. Retrieved from Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collectors' Help and Info Page: http://www.gotheborg.com/glossary.chineseporcelain.shtml