The MSc Programme in Urban Design and Architecture in Islamic Societies, of the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, organised a lecture titled ‘China in Abbasid Lands Patrons and Pottery’ on Thursday in the LAS building. The lecture was delivered by Prof Oliver Watson, I M Pei Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, Khalili Research Centre for the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East, University of Oxford, UK.
The lecture expounded that for over a hundred years it has been believed that the start of Islamic glazed pottery — one of the glories of Islamic art — was inspired by the arrival in the ninth century of Chinese porcelain and stoneware in Abbasid Iraq. Excavations at Samarra — the palatial city north of Baghdad — found fragments of Chinese originals and the local copies they inspired.
However, local potters had invented ways to imitate the imports and then added further decoration — painting in blue and lustre. The making luxury pottery then spread across the Islamic world, from Spain to Central Asia.
In addition, more recent discoveries in Egypt and Syria suggest that this story needs serious revision. A decorative glazed ceramic ware originated in eighth century Egypt, and its manufacture spread across Syria and finally into Iraq. These were entirely indigenous inventions, based on late antique types with the addition of lively patterns in colourful glazes. They owed nothing to China, and show no foreign influence. The fashion for using luxury ceramic tableware spread with these wares — perhaps brought by Syrians moving into Iraq when the Abbasids moved the capital of the Islamic empire to Baghdad.
Moreover, the Chinese imports of the ninth century now seem to be wares commissioned in the Far East by Muslim merchants, ordering types now made fashionable in Iraq by the arrival of Syrian habits and tastes. While the Iraqi copies of the imported Chinese pieces and the introduction of decorative techniques still form an important part of the early history of Islamic pottery, they are now to be seen as a second wave of Islamic inspiration, following the earlier original development in Egypt and Syria.
The MSc Programme in Urban Design and Architecture in Islamic Societies holds a number of seminars and conferences during the year. The programme studies how faith was one of the most dominant components of culture and cultural life in Muslim societies. The Peninsula
