- Title
- Bowl
- Date Made
- 9th century
- Medium
- Earthenware, overglaze polychrome luster painted
- Dimensions
- 2 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (6.99 x 24.13 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.73.5.238
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
The spectacular technique of luster painting was first introduced in the ninth century, probably by Egyptian artists familiar with the secret of luster-painted glass who perhaps immigrated to Basra, in southern Iraq, where a new ceramic industry developed under the ‘Abbasid dynasty (750–1258). This was a luxury ceramic ware requiring two firings: in the first, an opaque, generally white glaze was applied, and in the second, the design was applied from a paste that included silver and copper compounds ground with sulfur and dissolved in grape juice or vinegar. This second firing took place in a special kiln that restricted the flow of oxygen, producing a reducing atmosphere that forced the metals to give up their oxygen, thereby creating a thin, lustrous film that fused with the glazed surface. This deep bowl painted in yellow and brown luster over a white glaze and decorated with abstract and vegetal designs is an excellent example of the earlier, more colorful phase of this technique.
