Islamic glass is glass made in the Islamic world, especially in periods up to the 19th century. It built on pre-Islamic cultures in the Middle East, especially ancient Egyptian, Persian and Roman glass, and developed distinct styles, characterized by the introduction of new techniques and the reinterpreting of old traditions. It came under European influence by the end of the Middle Ages, with imports of Venetian glass documented by the late 15th century. It rarely has religious content, other than inscriptions, although the mosque lamp was mainly used in religious contexts, to light mosques, but it uses the decorative styles of Islamic art from the same times and places. The makers were not necessarily Muslims themselves. Though most glass was simple, and presumably cheap, finely formed and decorated pieces were expensive products, and often highly decorated, using several different techniques. Muhammad disapproved of the use of tableware and drinking vessels made from precious metals, which remained usual for Christian elites in Europe and the Byzantine Empire. Islamic pottery and glass benefited from this, developing luxury styles in the absence of as much competition from ware in other materials, though some Islamic pottery reached the standards required for court entertainments. The most important centres were Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syria through most of the period, with Turkey and India later joining them.
Roman and Sassanian influences Islamic glass did not begin to develop a recognizable expression until the late 8th or early 9th century CE, despite Islam spreading across the Middle East and North Africa during the mid-7th century. Despite bringing enormous religious and socio-political changes to the region, this event appears to have not drastically affected the day-to-day workings of craft industries, nor did it cause "extensive destruction or long-lasting disruption". The Byzantine glass industry (Levant and Egypt) and Sassanian (Persia and Mesopotamia) glassmaking industries continued in much the same way they had for centuries, and glass was apparently still exported to the Byzantine Empire from the traditional centres, now under Islamic control. Following the unification of the entire region, the interaction of ideas and techniques was facilitated, allowing for the fusion of these two separate traditions with new ideas, ultimately leading to the Islamic glass industry. Roman glassmaking traditions that are important in the Islamic period include the application of glass trails as a surface embellishment, while stylistic techniques adopted from the Sassanian Empire include various styles of glass cutting. This may have developed out of the long-standing hardstone carving traditions in Persia and Mesopotamia. In regards to glass-making technology, tank furnaces used in the Levant to produce slabs of raw glass for export during the Classical Period were used during the Early Islamic Period in the same region until the 10th or 11th centuries.
Technological change During the first centuries of Islamic rule, glassmakers in the Eastern Mediterranean continued to use the Roman recipe consisting of calcium-rich sand (providing the silica and lime) and mineral natron (soda component) from the Wādi el-Natrūn in Egypt, and examples of natron-based Islamic glass have been found in the Levant up to the late 9th century. Much Roman glass had apparently begun as enormous slabs made in the Levant, then shipped to Europe for breaking and working. Archaeological evidence has shown that the use of natron ceased, and plant ash became the source of soda for all Islamic glass in the following centuries. The reasons for this technological transition remain unclear, although it has been postulated that civil unrest in Egypt during the early 9th century led to a cut-off in the natron supply, thus forcing Islamic glassmakers to look for alternate soda sources. Evidence of experimentation with the basic glass recipe at Beth She'arim (modern Israel) during the early 9th century further supports this argument. A glass slab made from a tank mould from the site contained an excess amount of lime, and may be the result of mixing sand with plant ash. Although the raw glass would have been unusable due to its composition, it does suggest that at this time, Islamic glassmakers in the Levant were combining aspects of Sassanian and Roman traditions in an effort to solve the problem created by the lack of access to mineral natron. The use of plant ash, specifically from halophytic (salt-loving) plants, which were plentiful in the Middle East due to the climate, was well known in Persia and Mesopotamia. It undoubtedly would not take long for the glassmakers in the Near East to correct their manufacturing errors and begin using the plant ash-based recipe used further east.
Early Islamic glass: mid-7th to late 12th century
The glass industry in the Early Islamic Period can initially be characterized as a continuation of older traditions, coinciding with the Umayyad Caliphate, the first Islamic dynasty (Israeli 2003, 319). Following the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750, the capital of the Islamic world was moved from Damascus in the Levant to Baghdad in Mesopotamia. This led to a cultural shift away from the influences of Classical traditions, and allowed for the development of an 'Islamic' expression. The production of glass during this period is concentrated in three main regions of the Islamic world. Firstly, the Eastern Mediterranean remained a centre of glass production, as it had been for centuries. Excavations at Qal'at Sem'an in northern Syria, Tyre in Lebanon, Beth She'arim and Bet Eli'ezer in Israel, and at Fustat (Old Cairo) in Egypt have all shown evidence for glass production, including numerous vessels, raw glass, and their associated furnaces. In Persia, a formerly Sassanian region, archaeological activity has located a number of sites with large deposits of Early Islamic Glass, including Nishapur, Siraf, and Susa. Numerous kilns suggest Nishapur was an important production centre, and the identification of a local type of glass at Siraf suggests the same for that site.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
