12024-01-29T11:07:09-08:00Richard Lent3e723f35a685aebf07b8b602f188f085f3fa0c8f444041Lusterware bowl with figure, from Rayy (Iran), thirteenth century. Ceramic (7.9 × 20.3 cm). Worcester Art Museum, 1918.18. Overhead viewplain2024-01-29T11:07:09-08:00Richard Lent3e723f35a685aebf07b8b602f188f085f3fa0c8f
This page is referenced by:
12024-01-29T11:07:05-08:00Who made this bowl?3plain2024-02-16T10:49:03-08:00By Grace P. Morrissey '22 An individual potter for this bowl is unknown. However we do know the techniques behind lusterware manufacture must have been sustained by passing the practice down from potter to potter, and taught to local ceramists as the practice traveled from region to region. The techniques behind lusterware production needed to be explicitly taught, as simply looking at a finished lusterware ceramic leaves no clues about the methods used in production or the intricacies of its manufacture.
Techniques behind luster production would have been closely guarded, due to the fact that the production materials and finished product were both expensive. Lusterware potters sought to monopolize this ceramic technique for their own monetary profit, and as such, knowledge of luster-making appears to have been restricted to families of specialist craftsmen who kept it to themselves.
Ceramic bowls are made from clay. Sometimes pebbles or sand were used, along with glass fragments. When these ingredients were mixed together, they formed a very hard paste that was a perfect base layer for these Islamic ceramics. When making more refined ceramics, fancy glazes such as iridescent lustreware were used for detailing. At this time, the underglaze color was oftentimes a blue or turquoise, topped with lustreware.
Other examples of ceramics that underwent a similar process of production from the ancient city Rayy, Iran, include the WAM 1918.18 bowl and a bowl from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
