Cobalt and Turquoise

Medieval Islamic Ceramics c. 1150-1350
Exhibition image

 'Cobalt and Turquoise' is a focus exhibition exploring the use of blue pigments and glazes in the production of fine stone-paste ceramics in the Kashan workshops during the period between c. 1150-1350. The twelve objects presented here reflect the diverse production of medieval Persian ceramics workshops and their vibrant experimentation with blue glaze and underglaze-painting combinations.

The exhibition opens with a fine 'silhouette-ware' jug (right) painted with a thick black engobe slip under a bright, transparent turquoise glaze. This early and powerful example of an underglaze-painted ware marks an important transitional moment in the history of Iranian ceramic production, from the use of slip-painting to the new underglaze-painting technique.  The majority of the exhibition focusses on a group of underglaze-painted pots and jugs made in and around Kashan c.1180-1220. A small and remarkably intact water jug decorated with pigment-laden strokes of cobalt blue and incised decoration (below) illustrates the Kashan workshops' attempts to emulate the translucent and decorative effects of Song Dynasty porcelain using a Persian jug form. Other pieces, like an enameled over-glaze painted mina’i plate, reflect the technical and aesthetic achievements unique to the Kashan potters.

Together, the objects presented here reflect the aesthetic refinement and technical virtuosity of potters working in medieval Iran, most probably in the workshop centre of Kashan, which dominated production in the region. The extraordinary experimental nature of the period and its potters is reflected in the richness of forms and techniques displayed here. 

Please explore the digital exhibition below, or follow the link to download the full catalogue.

Sam Fogg
15D Clifford St
London W1S 4JZ
19 September - 18 October 2024


Early A
rabic sources attest to the fact that colour and material held great meaning in medieval Islamic aesthetics. The colours used to decorate objects held aesthetic, formal, and iconographic significance. The colour 'blue' is a powerful signifier that in one instance makes simple reference to the use of a jug for pouring water; while in another it refers to the watery spheres of the heavens and the earth.
 
The use of luscious blue glazes and pigments is not only of aesthetic interest, but also marks the astonishing technical accomplishments of the Kashan potters, who sourced and manipulated minerals and other natural materials to create the ceramic bodies, pigments, and glazes needed to form and decorate fine ceramics. These vibrant, experimental wares were desirable commodities across the medieval Islamic world and beyond, and remain so today.
 
We invite you to explore the objects below, which reflect the diverse output of the ceramics workshops of medieval Iran.
 

Silhouette-ware jug with scrolling palmettes

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1150-1200

‘Silhouette-ware’ ceramics were amongst the earliest underglaze-painted wares to be produced at Kashan and other ceramic centres in twelfth century Iran.

These wares represent both a rupture and continuity with earlier Iranian ceramics production, because they combine the use of clay-based slips used in ancient Iranian pottery decoration with the new underglaze painted style of the tweflth century.

A mina'i dish with floral arabesque over turquoise glaze

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1175-1200
This vessel is a ‘style 4’ category minaʾi ware with arabesque designs in vitrified pigments over a rare turquoise base glaze. Minaʾi ceramics, also known as ‘haft-rang’ or ‘seven-colored’ wares, are well-known for the brief period of their production c. 1175-1220 and for the complexity of the production process. Polychrome enameled ceramics made in the minaʾi style required multiple firings to allow for the successive application and adhesion of glazes, glaze colorants, and overglaze pigments in the kiln.

Jug with dashes of cobalt pigment and incised decoration

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1200-1220

Three quickly applied dashes of cobalt flow down the vertical axis of the body of this vessel from its rim, highlighting its undulating form and illuminating the incised decoration at its waist. The simple but powerful cobalt decoration is captured under a transparent glaze which stops just short of the conjunction of the body with its splayed foot, suggesting that it was submerged in the glaze while an artisan at the workshop held it upside down by its foot.
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Bowl with underglaze-painted radial decoration

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1200-1220

The fine, curving body of the bowl is enhanced by the rich blue strokes of pigment that trace over its form. The ability to form thin, high walls like this is a technical accomplishment made possible through the use of a durable stone-paste ceramic body. Raised on a short, unglazed foot, this simple vessel has a timeless elegance that emphasizes the union of geometry with form. 

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A bowl with radial decoration and poetic inscriptions

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1200-1220

The inscriptions on this bowl, in both Arabic and Persian, contain poetic verses as well as benedictory formulae:

‘A pearl shines at the time when there is a red rose, and a garden shines where there is a red rose, and the nightingale sings in the tongue of the red rose, wine shines in red vessels.’

A bowl with ‘water-weed’ design and perforated frieze under turquoise glaze

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1200-1220
A masterpiece from the Kashan workshops, this bowl combines a ‘water-weed’ design with pierced decoration under a luscious, transparent turquoise glaze. Seaweed-like, vegetal fronds rendered in a black underglaze pigment spread out across the curving well of the bowl. The glossy black paint gives the impression of sea life gently undulating beneath the aqueous, shimmering surface of the turquoise glaze.
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A ‘Sultanabad’ bowl with flying phoenixes

Iran, probably Kashan
c. 1260 – 1320

Three phoenixes fly in tandem against a lush backdrop of blue foliage at the base of this mesmerizing Sultanabad-style bowl. The thick rim of the bowl creates a transfixing frame and viewing portal for the underglaze-painted decoration that covers the interior of the bowl beneath a glistening, thick layer of transparent glaze. 
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The exhibition will be on view in the gallery from 19 September.
 
 

 

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Sam Fogg
Art of the Middle Ages