WASHINGTON, 11 December 2004 — With the war currently raging in Iraq, and tensions running high throughout the world regarding the cost of the US-led invasion, it is good to see art forms being used to remind Americans of the noble past of Iraq, and how that country’s technical and aesthetic innovations made lasting contributions throughout the world.
Long before Europe awoke to its Renaissance, Arab and Persian seafarers were successfully sailing the long ocean crossing from the Persian Gulf to China.
Muslim merchants bought luxury Chinese goods such as raw silk, silk brocades and tea, but it was the imported Chinese ceramics that caught the admiration of the Iraqis.
Since the Chinese were not interested in undertaking the extensive ocean-going voyages during the middle of the eighth century, Muslim merchants took advantage of the opportunities of overseas trade. In 762 Caliph Al-Mansur, the spiritual and political leader of the new Abbasid dynasty, founded Baghdad as the capital of a vast Islamic empire that stretched from the Indus River west to the Atlantic Ocean.
Known as the “city of peace,” Madinat Al-Salam, Baghdad was located between the meeting points of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This “island” had the obvious commercial advantage of easy access to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, and it became the crossroads for overland routes between North Africa and Eurasia.
Understanding the trading advantages of sailing to the Far East, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur said: “There is no obstacle between (Baghdad) and China; everything on the sea can come to us.”
And, if it didn’t, then Iraq was ready to create its own version. South of Baghdad, the port city of Basra also began to play a central role in the economic and commercial life of the Abbasid Empire.
Located on the edge of the southern Iraqi desert, and the mouth of the Shatt Al-Arab River, Basra’s unique position made it more than a market town; and it soon developed as an important manufacturing center for textiles, glass, metalwork, and pottery.
The arrival of Chinese imports to the Persian Gulf region created a demand for luxury ceramics, which inspired Iraqi potters of Basra to experiment with new techniques, shapes and designs.
Their innovative wares combined the refinement of Chinese ceramics with Islamic color and design, and were collected by members of the royal court and the affluent mercantile classes.
But the fruits of China-Iraq trade soon proved beneficial to all. Arab traders acted as middlemen in selling goods, such as ivory, pearls, incense rhinoceros horn, and dates from the western Indian Ocean region, as well as spices, aromatics, and dye stuffs from Southeast Asia. Most of this luxury trade was directed toward the Chinese imperial court and the ruling elite.
On their return journey, Arab and Persian merchants supplied the Abbasid court and the affluent middle class with prized Chinese goods: Silk, paper, pottery, ink and tea.
It was the arrival of Chinese ceramics that dramatically transformed Abbasid taste and inspired fundamental and enduring changes to the production and marketing of fine pottery in the Islamic world.
The result is now on exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art. This is the first exhibition to focus on these ceramic accomplishments. Entitled “Iraq and China: Ceramics, Trade and Innovation,” the show opened in Washington on Dec. 4 and will continue until April 24. The exhibition illustrates the results of the Iraq-China 9th century exchange with approximately 60 ceramic and glass objects, stucco, textiles, and the famous Iraqi blue and white and lusterware plates (see: www.asia.si.edu). The exhibition is co-sponsored by the Barakat Trust.
During the 9th century Iraqi potters achieved three great technological advances: The invention of an opaque white glaze; painting in cobalt blue; and the overglaze luster technique. These innovations shaped the history of Islamic as well as Asian and European ceramic traditions for centuries afterward. At the Smithsonian exhibition, one can see the story of the extraordinary accomplishments of Iraqi potters is told in the diverse objects — from fragile shards to colorful jars and bowls.
With the development of an opaque white glaze, Iraqi potters achieved a pure white surface that invited new decorative possibilities.
Bold colors and designs soon enhanced the Chinese aesthetic of simple and elegant forms. The Iraqi potters took pride in pottery artwork and began to sign their vessels in Arabic, much like painters on their portraits and paintings.
The potters’ choice of a dark cobalt blue pigment, dramatically contrasted against a white background, was the first experiment with the now well-known concept of “blue-on-white” ceramics.
Chinese potters of the Tang dynasty (618-907) were aware of the Islamic preference for bluedecorated ceramics and manufactured their own version for Iraqi wares. Smithsonian historians say that up until today these ceramics have only been found in two places: In an Arab shipwreck that was recently excavated in Indonesian waters, and at Yangzhou on the northeast coast of China.
Little is known of the human dimension of the Iraqi ceramic industry, but the scant biological evidence points to a community of potters with links both to the educated, literate elite and to merchants involved in overseas trade.
Smithsonian technical analyses discovered an interesting link between the Iraqis and Chinese: Not only did the Iraqi potters have extensive knowledge of the Chinese ceramic processes, but that Chinese potters also experimented with Islamic cobalt blue ore.
Following the commercial success of their cobalt blue designs, Iraqi potters began to experiment with pigments, described as the “colors of two firings,” which they borrowed from the Islamic glass industry in the mid-ninth century.
They painted mixtures of copper and silver onto previously glazed and fired pieces, and then set the design with a second firing to produce an iridescent metallic sheen.
The luster-painted ceramics enjoyed great popularity throughout the Abbasid Empire from 850 to 980, but its success hinged on healthy political and economic circumstances.
According to the Smithsonian exhibition, during the second half of the tenth century the Abbasid Empire began to disintegrate as Iraq’s political and economic importance declined. To rival the Abbasid, the Fatimid rulers in North Africa established a new dynasty in Tunisia and in 969 made Cairo their capital. The technique was never again revived in Iraq.
Instead, Cairo became the new center of production for whiteglazed wares with beautiful luster effects. It is thought that migrant potters from Basra probably brought these technologies to Egypt during their search for patronage and wealth.
The decline of the Fatimides two centuries later caused yet another migration of these artisans. Potters fleeing Fustat (old Cairo) after the burning of their quarters in 1169 carried the luster technique to Syria and Iran, where it achieved grate artistic and commercial success in the late 12th and 13th centuries.
Although workshop secrecy delayed the dissemination of these techniques, they spread to Islamic Spain in the early 14th century and thereafter gave rise to the great 16th century “Maiolica” tradition in Renaissance Italy, which in turn inspired Portuguese and French faience and the 19th century English Minton Majolica wares.
Meanwhile, the Chinese did not forget the Iraqi pottery influence.
Fourteenth century experiments with cobalt blue from the Islamic world proved successful and led to the production of Yuan and Ming blue-and-white porcelain, which eventually influenced European production including Dutch Delft, Danish Royal Copenhagen Porcelain faience and English blue-and-white wares.
The tin glaze and iridescent luster techniques are two of the great contributions made by Islamic potters to the world’s history of ceramics, and their works continue to inspire artists today.
