How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

Although the bowl conforms to the standard Abbasid type from Iraq, it differs from others in the group in the character of its potting: it is thicker, heavier and has a bevelled footring which is completely covered with glaze. It is also distinguished by its rigorously balanced design which radiates from a central dot. It is now generally agreed that the catalyst for the transformation of pottery from a domestic craft into a mass production industry in Mesopotamia under the Abbasids came from China: in particular, from the Tang stonewares which were beginning to reach the Middle East by the early ninth century. Although Islamic kiln technology could not reproduce the hard bodies of Chinese stoneware, Islamic potters discovered that glazes could be opacified with tin oxide to produce a visual approximation and could be stained with other metallic oxides to imitate their polychrome decoration.