Islamic Ceramic Art History

In addition to beautiful pieces of pottery islamic artists created great pieces of art using ceramic tiles.

Islamic ceramic art history.

It includes elements from greek and early christian artwhich it combines with the great middle eastern cultures of egypt byzantium and ancient persia along with far eastern cultures of india. From between the eighth and eighteenth centuries the use of glazed ceramics was prevalent in islamic art usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery. Early islamic artists created a wide variety of ceramic glazes and styles. For example although representation of the human figure was forbidden in islamic religious art products intended for domestic use such as ceramic plates cups and bowls often featured human figures along with the calligraphy and more abstract vegetal and geometric designs usually associated with islamic art.

Tin opacified glazing for the production of tin glazed pottery was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the islamic potters. Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onward by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally islamic populations. Ceramics one major form of islamic art was ceramics. Islamic art has notable achievements in ceramics both in pottery and tiles for buildings which reached heights unmatched by other cultures.

Some were influenced by chinese porcelain while others created their own unique ways of glazing pottery. It is thus a very difficult art to define because it covers many lands and various peoples over some 1 400 years. Islamic art is difficult to characterize because it covers a wide range of lands periods and genres including islamic architecture islamic calligraphy islamic miniature islamic glass islamic pottery and textile arts such as carpets and embroidery. Islamic art has developed from a wide variety of different sources.

Islamic ceramics production gained momentum in ninth century abbasid iraq during a period referred to as the golden age of islamic culture a time in which literature philosophy science and artistic endeavor flourished in a region that cultivated trade connections with countries as far away as china. Geometric art in the ceramic tiles is extremely sophisticated requiring scientific and mathematical precision with imagination and creativity. Early pottery had usually been unglazed but a tin opacified glazing technique was developed by islamic potters. Islamic ceramics additionally serve as important evidence of secular or non religious art in islam.

Tin opacified glazing for the production of tin glazed pottery was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the islamic potters. It comprises both religious and secular art forms. It is not art specifically of a religion or of a time or of a place or of a single medium like painting.