PERSIA
Siliceous-glazed wares were produced in Persia at a very early period, and the late Mr. C. Drury E. Fortnum, in his Historical Treatise on Majolica, states that the decoration by means of metallic lustre was practised in that country in the course of the thirteenth century, if not long before. Glass-glazed bricks, tiles, and other wares, were made in Babylon at a remote period, as well as in Assyria and Egypt; and it is probable that the art of their manufacture spread into the surrounding countries.
The Persian ware is principally decorated with blue and black. The lustres are a rich orange gold, a dark copper colour, and a brass lustre. The patterns upon the tiles and vases are similar, and consist of elegant arabesques, foliage, and ornamented flowers, more or less in imitation of nature. Among these we notice the tulip, the Indian pink, the rose, and other flowers. The tulip in Persia is the emblem of Affection, which is thus symbolised at the present day. The bowls and vases are sometimes ornamented with fabulous birds, gazelles, antelopes, hares, &c., mixed with scrolls and foliage. The forms include hemispherical and cylindrical cups, vases, and bowls on conical feet; common forms are a bottle with a very long neck, probably used to hold wine, and ewers and basins, the former like a bottle with handle and long spout, used especially for ablutions, the latter with a pierced cover. The tiles being mostly made to cover walls, form continuous arabesques when placed side by side. Chardin says of them, “In truth, nothing can be seen more lively or more brilliant than this sort of work, nor of equally fine design.”
Fig. 342.—Wall Tile.
Glazed earthenware.
13th century.
The Persian fayence was probably the same as the Gombroon ware, which was shipped by the English East India Company from a port of that name in the Persian Gulf, where they formed their first establishment about the year 1600, and whence the great bulk of Chinese porcelain was exported.
Fig. 343.—Water-bottle.
With metallic lustre.
15th or 16th century.
It has long been a vexata quæstio whether porcelain was ever made in Persia; some say the idea is altogether chimerical, but M. Jacquemart endeavours to prove that both hard and soft porcelain were made at Iran, and has devoted three or four long chapters to the support of his theory (Les Merveilles de la Céramique).
