Precedents in glass Lustre decoration was first used as a
glass-painting technique. Lamm (1941) and Clairmont (1977) placed the origin of motifs appearing on lusterware decoration in Coptic Egypt, however, this hypothesis is disputed. Staining glass vessels with copper and silver pigments was known from around the 3rd century AD, although
lustreware technology probably began sometime between the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The earliest recipe for luster production appeared in 8th century AD
"Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuzna" by
Jabir ibn Hayyan. Much of the knowledge of the behaviours of metallic compounds in turn came from metalworking, where cheaper substitutes for gold in
gilding had been developed much earlier. A fragment of lustre glass from Fustat is dated to the 779–780, and a bowl (
Corning Museum of Glass) was made in
Damascus between 718 and 814; otherwise we know little of the history of the technique on glass. Lustre was used in
Islamic glass only briefly, and never spread to other areas as lustre on pottery did. A similar technique was used to make iridescent
Art Nouveau glass, with more of a "
rainbow" effect than a single shiny colour, from the late 19th century.
Mesopotamia The first lustreware pottery was probably made under the
Abbasid Caliphate in modern
Iraq in the early 9th century, around
Baghdad,
Basra and
Kufa. Most pieces were small bowls, up to about 16 cm wide, but fragments of larger vessels have been found, especially at the ruins of the Caliph's palace at
Samarra, and in
Fustat (modern
Cairo). Fragments have been found as far away as Spain, North Africa, and Pakistan. Unlike the great majority of later lustreware, these very early pieces used three or four different lustre colours, from silver and copper compounds. The earliest forms of lustreware were decorated with three to four colours, but as time went on the colours used was reduced to two. Recent studies have argued that the preference between polychrome and monochrome has to do with the price and availability of materials. Early Islamic lustreware ceramics were predominately produced in
Lower Mesopotamia during the ninth and tenth centuries. Some displayed both plants and figures. At this point in time, there was an aesthetic preference for completely covering the surface of objects with ornamental decoration, and this is also the case for lustreware ceramics. As lustreware made appearances in other cultures and countries, less decoration was introduced. Abbasid lustreware can either be
polychrome,
monochrome or bi-chrome when it comes to the colours featured in the ceramics. The polychrome and bi-chrome types are generally associated with the ninth century, while the monochrome type is associated with the late ninth or tenth century. but the best painting was very fine, and in the mature Fatimid style, characterised by "extraordinary liveliness". The painters may well have bought in standard glazed vessels made by others. The decoration was very varied, partly reflecting the mix of influences from the earlier Mesopotamian tradition, and the Fatimids' own origins to the West, in North Africa and
Sicily, as well as the existence of a number of different workshops. , Iran, c. 1260–1280 Only two pieces are datable, by inscriptions naming the patrons, both to early in the period, to the reign of Caliph
al-Hakkim, 996–1021, for whom one piece was made.
Persia star tile,
Kashan, 13th–14th century, with entwined cranes Lustreware began to be made in Persia when it was part of the
Seljuk Empire, whose ruling dynasty and top elite were ethnically Turkish. But Persia was ruled by the
Khwarazmian dynasty, initially as vassals of the Seljuk, until in 1190 they severed these ties and ruled independently until the devastating Mongol conquest beginning in 1219. The fifty years from 1150 saw great developments in Iranian ceramics. Firstly the fritware body and the glazes used on it were greatly improved, which allowed thinner walls and some of the translucency of
Chinese porcelain, which was already imported into Persia, and represented the main competition for local fine wares. This "white ware" body was used for a variety of styles of decoration, all showing great advances in sophistication. Apart from lustreware, the most luxurious type was
mina'i ware, which used polychrome
overglaze enamelling, the first pottery to do so. This also required a light second firing; some pieces combined the two techniques. The earliest dated Persian piece with lustre is from 1179. Although an influx of craftsmen from Fustat is usually predicated, these may have been painters rather than potters, as local vessel shapes and the Seljuk "white ware" body are always used. The main colour of lustre paint used was gold; this needs to be distinguished from the overglaze application of
gold leaf found in many later mina'i pieces. Lustreware was certainly made in
Kashan, and this may well be the only place of production (as it probably was for mina'i ware). Though the Mongol invasion, reaching Kashan in 1224, seems to have greatly reduced production until the 1240s, to judge by dated pieces, it continued, initially with little change in style. This was not the case for mina'i ware, which virtually disappears after 1219.
cobalt blue, the
arabesque background in lustre. Probably
Kashan. A large part of Persian lustreware production was in the form of tiles, usually star-shaped, with central animal or human figures, mostly single or in pairs, and ornament around the edges, and sometimes inscriptions. An eight-pointed star was the norm, made in effect of two rectangles with one rotated, but six-pointed stars are also common. To fill a space with tiles, eight-pointed stars fitted with crosses with pointed arms. These lacked a large central area and contained either just ornament, or a number of small figures, usually birds of animals. Square tiles and other shapes are also found. The tiles were evidently produced in large numbers (and cemented to walls have no doubt survived better than vessels in use), and
kashi or
kashani "became the usual Persian word for a tile". The painting usually combined
cobalt blue underglaze painting with overglaze lustre, and that of the figures is often rather slapdash on tiles compared to that on vessels. Tile and vessel production continued under the Mongol
Ilkhanids, with some decline in the quality of the body, glaze, lustre finish and painting, the "drawing became slightly heavier, and the mood less lyrical". There is a gap in dated tiles between 1224 and 1250, and examples cease in 1339, around when lustre production seems to have ceased, perhaps partly because of the arrival of the
Black Death in Persia. Lustre on vessels was already in decline from about 1300. The Ilkhanids were by then treating lustre "more as a rich accompaniment to other colours than as a dominant pigment on its own". After a gap of several centuries in Persian production, it was revived in the
Safavid period from about the 1630s, in a rather different style, typically producing small pieces with designs often in a dark copper colour over a dark blue (cobalt) background. Unlike other Persian wares of the period, these use traditional Middle Eastern shapes and decoration rather than Chinese-inspired ones, and also do not take their shapes from metalware. Designs featured plant forms and animals, and generally flowed freely over the whole surface, typically taking up over half the surface area. Production, which was never large, appears to have mostly been from about 1650 to 1750, but with rather inferior wares produced into the 19th century. It is often thought to have been centred in
Kirman, though firm evidence is lacking.
Syria , Syria, around 1200 As in Persia, lustreware begins with the dispersal of Egyptian ceramic painters around 1170. The painting style continues to develop Fatimid styles and subjects, while the clay body and the vessel shapes are different, suggesting local potters worked with immigrant painters. This first type is known as Tell Minis ware, after the site where they were first excavated (but not necessarily where they were made). They begin near the end of the reign of
Nur ad-Din of
Aleppo (d. 1174), and the court may have deliberately fostered the bringing together of the craftsmen, perhaps including some from Persia. The designs are "mostly freely painted flowing compositions based on themes of good omen: sun-faces, fishes, crescent moons, figures of courtiers" and others. Tell Minis ware ceases around 1200, which is about when a new and very different production began at
Raqqa, lasting until the Mongols destroyed the city in 1259. Lustre was just one type of finish applied to some vessels from the usual types made there. In
Raqqa ware the painting is mostly plant-based forms and inscriptions or "mock-lettering", geometrically structured to give "a dignified, monumental character". The wares do not seem to have a context in court patronage. The glazes were either clear, revealing an off-white body or white
slip, or given various rather dark colours, usually thought to show later wares. The interplay between these dark glazes and lustre "made a world of shifting half-light, quiet and mysterious" that was probably influential on later Spanish and Italian wares with lustre over blue underglaze; some Syrian examples have been found in Europe. After the fall of Raqqa the lustre technique later appeared in
Damascus, until Timur sacked the city in 1401, bringing Syrian lustreware to an end. Damascus wares also reached Europe and in both Spain and Italy there are 15th-century documentary records describing local lustre wares by terms such as "
a la domasquina... dauratos et de cafre argentatos" (a commission for a
Manises potter, 1414). The similarities between Syrian and Spanish painting styles suggest some refugee painters may have reached Europe. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, Christian territories began adopting Muslim pottery techniques, including lustreware. By the 15th century, Italian artisans acquired the techniques of lustreware production, yet the imported Islamic-Spaniard lustreware remained sought after, as Italian renditions were perceived as imitative of the Spanish imports. Nevertheless, towards the onset of the 16th century, Italian potters began infusing their own motifs and stylistic elements, beginning the golden era of Italian lustreware, known as
Maiolica. File:Grande Mosquée de Kairouan, partie supérieure du mihrab.jpg|
Mihrab with 9th century lustreware tiles,
Mosque of Uqba (or Great Mosque of Kairouan),
Tunisia File:Carreau lustré du mihrab de la Grande Mosquée de Kairouan.jpg|Single tile from the Kairouan mihrab File:Manises, piatto con lustro metallico, 1400-60 ca. 02.JPG|
Hispano-Moresque dish,
Manises, 1400–1460 File:Andalusia, alzata con lustro, 1500-1550 ca. 02.JPG|
Hispano-Moresque bowl,
Andalusia, 1500–1550 File:Safavid bottle MBA Lyon D664.jpg|
Safavid wine jug, Iran, 2nd half 17th century, probably originally with a set of matching cups ==Modern lustreware==