Chinese influences on Islamic pottery

Chinese culture had a big effect on Islamic pottery for many centuries, from around the 8th century all the way to the 19th century. One interesting part of this story is how Islamic designs were sometimes used in Chinese porcelain, showing how ideas moved in both directions between these cultures.

The pottery made in China, especially during the Tang and later periods, became very popular in Islamic lands. This popularity led to Islamic potters copying some of the styles and shapes of Chinese ceramics. For example, shards of Chinese-made sancai pottery from the 9th to 10th centuries have been found in places like Samarra, showing how far Chinese goods traveled.

In turn, Chinese potters also adopted some Islamic designs. This exchange of ideas helped both cultures grow and change their art over many years. The influence of Chinese ceramics on Islamic arts shows how important trade and travel were in sharing culture and creativity between different parts of the world.

Earliest exchanges

Pre-Islamic contacts with Central Asia

Even though they were far apart, there is evidence that people in eastern and southwestern Asia had some contact long ago. Some very early Western influence can be seen on Chinese pottery from the 3rd–4th century BCE. For example, a red earthenware bowl from the Eastern Zhou period, now in the British Museum, shows designs that might have come from foreign places. This foreign influence helped the Eastern Zhou people become interested in using glass decorations on their pottery.

Contacts between China and Central Asia began formally from the 2nd to 1st century BCE through the Silk Road. Over the next few centuries, China received many new ideas, religions (especially Buddhism), and art forms from other cultures. These cultures, especially Hellenistic, Egyptian, Indian, and Central Asian, mixed together along the Silk Road.

This mixing of cultures can be seen in the pottery of Northern China in the 6th century, such as that of the Northern Qi (550–577) or the Northern Zhou (557–581). During this time, high-quality pottery with beautiful glazes began to appear. These pieces often included designs like lotuses from Buddhist art and patterns from Sasanian designs, such as pearl roundels, lion masks, and pictures of musicians and dancers.

Early Islamic period

Direct contacts between the Muslim and Chinese worlds happened after the Battle of Talas in 751 in Central Asia. Muslim communities lived in China as early as the 8th century CE, especially in busy trading ports like Canton and Hangzhou.

From the 9th century, Islamic merchants began bringing in Chinese ceramics, which were very important in the Indian Ocean trade. These beautiful Chinese pots inspired local potters in the Islamic world to try making their own. This also showed Islamic potters that pottery could be made for special, fancy goods, not just for everyday use.

Archaeologists have found Chinese pottery from the Tang period (618–907) in places like Samarra and Ctesiphon in present-day Iraq, and in Nishapur in present-day Iran. These pieces include white porcelain from Northern Chinese kilns, green-glazed stoneware from the Yue kilns in Zhejiang, and splashed stoneware from the Changsha kilns in Hunan Province.

Chinese pottery was also given as gifts in Islamic lands. In 1059, a writer named Muhammad Ibn-al-Husain-Bahaki wrote that a governor named Ali Ibn Isa gave the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid twenty pieces of special Chinese porcelain, along with 2,000 other pieces, which had never been seen at a caliph's court before.

Yuan and Ming dynasties

By the time of the Mongol invasion of China, trade with the Islamic world had grown a lot. Islamic potters had started trying to make their own versions of Chinese porcelain as early as the 12th century. Though these were not as good as Korean pottery, they became popular locally. Chinese potters also made bigger dishes that were popular in the Middle East.

After about 1450, the style called celadon fell out of fashion in China, but it continued to be made for export. The Islamic market was very important for the early years of Chinese blue and white porcelain, which was mainly sent abroad until the Ming dynasty. This style was called “Muslim blue” by the Chinese. The designs on these pieces often used patterns from Islamic art, like arabesques and plant scrolls, which came from metalwork. The blue color used, called cobalt blue, came from Persia.

When the Ming dynasty began in 1368, a rule was made against trading with foreign countries. This rule was repeated many times and slowed down trade, but the giving of gifts continued. Trade became easier again after 1403, but by then, Islamic potters had learned to make very good copies of Chinese styles.

Sometimes, Islamic potters copied older Chinese styles from the late Yuan and early Ming periods. In return, Chinese potters began making pieces with Islamic designs, including mixed-up Arabic writing, for the Chinese Muslim market and for those at court who were interested in Islam.

Evolution

Yue ware

Further information: Yue ware

Yue ware started in the kilns of Northern Zhejiang, near Shaoxing, called "Yuezhou" in old times. It began in the 2nd century CE, copying bronze vessels found in tombs around Nanjing. Over time, Yue ware became its own style of ceramic art. By the 6th century, production moved around Zhejiang, especially near Shanglinhu in Yuyaoxian.

Yue ware was very important and was given as gifts to the imperial court in northern China in the 9th century. It was also used in the respected Famen Temple in Shaanxi Province. Yue ware was sent to the Middle East early on, and pieces have been found in Samarra, Iraq, showing early Chinese influence on Islamic pottery. It also reached East Asia, South Asia, and East Africa from the 8th to 11th century.

Sancai ware

Further information: Sancai

Left image: Chinese Tang lobed dish, 9–10th century. British Museum.
Right image: Iraqi lobed dish inspired from Tang examples, 9–10th century. British Museum.

During the Tang period, pieces with three-color glazes called sancai were sent to Middle-Eastern countries like Iraq and Egypt. These have been found in Samarra in Iraq and Nishapur in Iran. Local artists in the Middle East started making their own versions of these pieces in the 9th century.

To copy the Chinese style, they used special glazes on top of white-coated pieces. The colored glazes were splashed on, spreading and mixing. They also copied shapes, like lobed dishes from Chinese Tang ceramics, making them in Iraq during the 9th–10th century.

Many designs from Central Asia and Persia appeared in Chinese sancai ware, such as pictures of warriors on horses, musicians, and vases shaped like Middle-Eastern containers.

[Iran](/wiki/Iran) three-color ceramic, 9–10th century

[Syrian](/wiki/Syrian) three-color ceramic, 13th century

Three-color glazed ceramics, [Cyprus](/wiki/Cyprus), 14th century

White ware

Further information: Tin-glazed pottery

Potters in Egypt and Syria made fine white glazed pieces as early as the 8th century. After the Abbasid Caliphate moved its capital from Damascus to Baghdad in 750 CE, potters and techniques moved from Egypt and Syria to Iraq. This also showed a growing trade focus with eastern Asia, especially Tang dynasty China. Porcelain, made from kaolin clay and fired at high temperatures, was introduced to the Islamic world through this trade. Islamic potters couldn’t make porcelain because they didn’t have kaolin clay, so they used white-glazed pieces instead of yellow ones to look more like Chinese imports. They made bowls with a gentle curve and covered them with a white glaze made cloudy by adding tin, an early example of tin-glazing. This shape was taken from Chinese bowls.

In the late 11th century, potters developed stone-paste, or fritware, to make pieces as strong as Chinese porcelain. Fritware’s strength let Persian potters try new methods, like poking holes before firing to make parts look see-through. This method was used in Egypt by the end of the 11th century, 500 years before a similar method appeared in Chinese "rice grain" porcelain. By the 13th century, fritware became very popular in places like Kashan and Rayy.

Celadon ware

Chinese greenware, or celadon, was very popular in Iran from the ninth century. During the Ilkhanid period, Iranian artists made their own versions of these Chinese pieces. Persian potters created bowls shaped like lotus flowers with carved petals and a small dent in the center, and decorated them with fish shapes, a feature of Chinese celadon. However, Iranian copies were often bigger than the original Chinese pieces, showing different size tastes.

Blue and white ware

Further information: Blue and white porcelain and İznik pottery

Left image: Ming plate with grape design, 15th century, Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi. British Museum.
Right image: Stone-paste dish with grape design, and "dollar pattern" border, Iznik, Turkey, 1550–70. British Museum.

Starting in the 14th century, blue and white pottery became a big part of the culture between China and Iran. The desire for Chinese blue and white pottery in Iran led to both imports and local copies.

Islamic potters in the Abbasid period rarely made pure white pieces and often added cobalt blue geometric and flower designs. This use of cobalt blue later influenced blue and white porcelain in 14th century China. Sometimes, Chinese blue and white pieces included Islamic designs, changing Song styles into bigger, metal-like forms, possibly copying Middle Eastern metal work. This can be seen in some Mamluk metal pieces turned into blue and white Chinese porcelain designs. Chinese blue and white porcelain became very popular in the Middle East, where both Chinese and Islamic styles existed together. Most Iranian blue and white pieces are bowls with thin bases and some special shapes like a tall vase called meiping in China.

Chinese porcelain from the 14th or 15th century reached the Middle East and the Near East, especially the Ottoman Empire, either as gifts or taken during wars. Chinese designs greatly influenced potters in Iznik, Turkey. Evidence shows Yuan pottery was often copied by Islamic artists. The Ming "grape" design was very popular and widely copied in the Ottoman Empire. The style of Persian pottery known as Kubachi ware also took ideas from China, copying both celadons and Ming blue and white porcelain. Islamic artists created new designs that fit better with Islamic art. This change happened by simplifying Chinese decorations and changing them to match the artist’s own style. Chinese blue and white porcelain from this time often had flower and animal designs, while 14th century Iranian porcelain had geometric designs and balanced arrangements.

Timurid blue and white ware from the late 14th and early 15th centuries showed many similarities to Chinese porcelain. This period had many links between Chinese and Middle Eastern blue and white pieces, though some styles were different, like Timurid potters using the lotus-petal design from China but adding their own elements instead of Buddhist symbols, such as arabesque scrolls. Tall-i Iblis showed that Kirman was a center for blue and white ware during this time.

Blue and white tiles made in Damascus were likely by artists who worked under Timur. Geometric designs on these tiles refer to Timurid "panel style". Landscape designs on the tiles refer to paintings from Samarqand.

Starting in the 15th century in Persia and Central Asia, elaborate buildings called chini-kaneh ("porcelain houses") were built to display Chinese ceramics. Walls and roofs had special spaces shaped to hold specific ceramic pieces. The chini-kaneh in Samarqand built by Ulugh Beg was lined with Chinese porcelain tiles.

The spread of Chinese blue and white porcelain to other countries and the copies made show how important China saw this type of porcelain for export. Sea routes were the main way to move Chinese blue and white porcelain, going west through India, across the Maldive Islands, to Gulf ports, the Red Sea, and even to East Africa. This was likely because of practical reasons like how much could be carried and how delicate the pieces were. Many Chinese blue and white porcelain pieces have been found in Fustat in Egypt, where locally made blue and white ceramics show a growing Middle Eastern blue and white movement by the 14th century.

In Syria, Chinese influence on local potters is clear from the large amount of Chinese blue and white porcelain in Damascus, from the Yuan to the Ming period. The late 14th century Hama dish in Damascus National Museum shows Syrian potters trying to copy Chinese blue and white porcelain. Chinese blue and white porcelain was mostly brought from Gulf ports like Hormuz Island (New Hormuz) to towns in Iran, showing the importance of sea routes for moving Chinese blue and white porcelain. Topkapi Saray in Istanbul has one of the best collections of Chinese ceramics in the world. This sea-based spread of Chinese blue and white porcelain is also proven by finds in Japan, Korea, and South-East Asia.

The demand for Chinese blue and white porcelain in the Middle East affected Chinese production, both in how much was made and what kinds of pieces were created. Muslim merchants in the port town of Quanzhou in Fujian controlled the sale of this porcelain, and there is little sign of Mongol support for it as art. Since most Chinese blue and white porcelain was found outside China, it was often made for Middle Eastern buyers. Small pieces like pouring bowls and stem-cups, like those used in China, show domestic use. The Chinese blue and white porcelain mainly made were large dishes for export to the Middle East.

The Turkish Ottoman, other Muslim leaders, and Persian Safavid dynasties received products from the Chinese market as gifts introducing Islam to China.

Decorative tiles

From the late 13th century, designs inspired by Chinese art and fabrics started to appear on decorative tiles in Persian buildings. Along with existing Islamic geometric patterns and arabesques, new designs included flowers, animals, and mythic symbols from the Far East, like lotuses, dianthuses, cloud shapes, phoenixes, and dragons. These so-called khatai ('Chinese') patterns appeared in the mosaics and haft-rang tiles of Timurid and Safavid architecture, and in the tilework of Ottoman architecture.