Ceramics and Circulation

Abstract

This chapter traces three circulation activities of pottery in the first centuries of the Islamic period. First as physical goods carried in both land and sea-borne trade, of value in themselves, or as the containers for more valuable cargo. Secondly pottery can travel as “ideas” suggested by the arrival in a new place of new types of pottery and new styles of decoration, possibly brought by immigrants with habits and practices learnt elsewhere. Thirdly, potters themselves travel and set up workshops in new places. They bring new technologies and styles in making. The chapter then concentrates on fine ceramics, and addresses the traditional explanation of the rise of Islamic glazed pottery – a story that has held sway for over a century. It suggests that the pre-Islamic habit of using fine pottery first spread eastwards from Egypt and Syria to Iraq, where the subsequent fashion for Chinese wares led to new styles.

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