Antique Persian pottery

By Persia is meant the medieval and later empire that covered the territory of modern Iran plus substantial portions of neighbouring modern countries to both east and west.

Persian potters never succeeded in producing porcelain, but they were adept at copying, in coarser earthenware, the designs and decorations of the Chinese wares that were imported and were highly popular. Indeed, one of the world’s finest collections of Ming porcelain, from the early 17^th century, has survived because it was dedicated by a Persian shah at the shrine of an ancestor and preserved to the present day.

The two main centres for producing imitations of Chinese porcelain were Kirman and Meshed. The copies can always be distinguished from the real thing by the lack of refinement of the base item and the somewhat crude attempt to reproduce the “emperor’s mark” that typifies many genuine Ming pieces. The decoration, although in blue-and-white and based on Chinese models, is often poorly executed, especially in late 17^th century pieces.

Some later Kirman pieces added other colours to the standard blue, and experiments were made with moulded designs.

Persian potters sometimes adapted Chinese forms to suit local needs, such as bases of qalians, or hookahs, which were produced at Meshed. These have every appearance of Chinese vessels, with floral and animal designs in blue-and-white, but the bowls were given an additional spout to take the tube through which smoke would be inhaled after being cooled by water in the base.

However, there was also Persian pottery that was less directly influenced by Chinese models, such as that generally known as “Kubachi” from the collection found at the town of that name, although it was probably made in Tabriz. These wares were soft and loose-grained with a thin glaze that produced fine cracks that usually became stained with ingrained dirt. The decoration is distinctly Persian, sometimes on plates that incorporated portraits amid displays of foliage that belonged to the region, as opposed to the stylised versions of Chinese vegetation on copied pieces. Shades of blue, green, yellow and red were typically used.

Painted tile wall decorations from the 17^th century show influences from the west rather than the east, and it is known that several European painters were active in Persia at this time. Despite Persia having been an Islamic country for centuries, some of the designs for palaces owned by the ruling class were highly sensuous in both style and substance. These included pictures of dancers and musicians in festive scenes. Other tiles, destined for the walls of Turkish baths, show lightly-clad bathing beauties sprinkling themselves with perfume.

Another feature of 17^th century Persian pottery is the use of lustre, a form of metallic glaze that produced a range of iridescent rainbow colours. The technique had originally been developed in 9^th century Mesopotamia and preserved as a closely guarded secret into the 12^th and 13^th centuries until it apparently died out, only to re-emerge some 400 years later. The lustre was often of a deep brown colour.

However, the Chinese influence was strong throughout the period of the Persian empire down to the 18^th century, clearly being popular in, for example, heavy bowls and vessels designed for bathroom use, decorated in blue-and-white. It would seem that, as in many other cultures, one way to flaunt one’s wealth was to show admiration for far-flung civilizations, even if the wares were of relatively low quality and locally made.

Collections of Persian pottery can be seen, for example, at the British and Victoria and Albert Museums in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

© John Welford