Mina’i dish decorated with figures -
source David Aaron

The earliest Kashan Mina’i vessel was dated to 1186 AD and signed by the painter Abu Zaid. Mina’i technology was also used for tiles in buildings such as the palace at Konya. Initially Mina’i wares were decorated only with floral and geometric patterns, but later included figures.

As it developed, the style imitated illuminated manuscripts of the 13^th century in its detailed decoration.

Mina’i stonepaste dish with Kufic
decoration 12-13^th century -
Image courtesy of the Potteries Museum
& Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Champlevé was also practised at Rayy. The pot was covered with a thick black or blue and black slip, and the design was then carved with a knife. The glaze was either clear or turquoise (using copper pigment). Many beautiful wares have been found particularly at Rayy. Some had a sandy body and clear glaze and were covered in a golden brown lustre, also with blue.

Persian lustre tile 13^th
century with Kufic decoration - Image
courtesy of the Potteries Museum & Art
Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Production stopped when the Mongols sacked the city.

As usual the most common wares were locally made unglazed ware. In the Seljuk period fine unglazed wares were produced all over Iran. The bodies were varied – white, buff, yellow or red. They were undecorated, or incised, stamped, moulded, carved or pierced. They were bowls, cups, jugs, bottles, pilgrim flasks and large storage jars particularly for water

Around 1227 AD, Soltanabad potters were also producing a loose sandy greyish white body covered in a clear siliceous glaze. There were two decorative schemes; white slipped with the design in brown and background filled in blue; or a white slip built up to form the pattern in low relief against the natural greyish body, together with brown hatching. They were both decorated with animals, birds and sometimes humans – with very attractive results

The Seljuk Empire started to weaken when the sons of a dead ruler fought amongst themselves, and the Crusader states started to encroach on their territory. Then most of the surrounding states took advantage of the situation and pushed the Seljuks into Anatolia, (where they remained until crushed by the Mongols in 1243 AD).

9.53 The Mongols 

In 1219 AD Genghis Khan turned west reaching Western Azerbaijan by his death in 1227. The Mongol forces of Genghis’s grandson, Hulagu Khan, specifically wanted to suppress the Assassins of Alamut in North West Persia as well as to attack the Islamic Caliphate. He destroyed the Ismaili Sect in 1253 AD and the Assassins capitulated. In January 1258 AD he defeated the Caliph’s army, killing the Caliph and capturing Baghdad. He then went on to destroy Damascus. The Mongol forces had laid waste to the countryside and devastated the irrigation system and agriculture to the extent that the population of Iran dropped drastically between 1220 and 1258 AD. Of particular note during the Mongol invasion, Genghis Khan’s son-in-law was killed at Nishapur, so his daughter devastated the city and killed its inhabitants in revenge. The Mongol governors, known as the Il-Khans, started ruling as part of the Great Mongol Empire, but soon declared independence and set up their own dynasty. They assumed Persian culture, and soon embraced Islam. For example, during Halagu Khan’s reign, Persian took over from Arabic as the language for Persian written history. Halagu had to return to Mongolia on the death of his brother Mangu, and during his absence the fierce Egyptian Mamluk forces stopped his depleted army in Palestine in 1260 AD. The following Mongol rulers in the Middle East were varied in impact, Ghazan Khan (1295-1304AD) was a positive force who rebuilt agriculture and re-opened trade routes. Before his reign he converted from Buddhist to Islam in 1292 AD (and changed his name to Mahmud) and when he became ruler he supported the Sunni Muslims rather than the Buddhists, who he drove out of his domain.