During the 13^th century the Persians had developed a particularly deep blue colourant based on cobalt to decorate their pottery. They had admired the strength and serviceability of Chinese porcelain and had investigated using this cobalt colouring on it.

They took this cobalt colourant from Persia and Iraq to China where it had become known as “Muhammadan Blue”. Interestingly in the Middle East it was known as Chinese blue. This triggered the resurgence of blue and white decorated porcelain that had starting in the Tang Dynasty, (in the early 8^th century cobalt blue was being exported to the Tang Dynasty in China as a “frit”), and the Chinese went on to produce some magnificent porcelain during the Yuan (1279-1368 AD) and Ming (1368-1644 BC) Dynasties. Muhammadan blue contained arsenic that enhanced the brilliance of the blue. In the 15^th century the Chinese found their own source of cobalt that contained manganese rather than arsenic and was paler. In the 17^th century the Chinese combined both blues for decorative effect. Pottery shapes and techniques such as sgraffito and possibly overglaze enamel had also migrated from Persia to China.

Persian tile panel 14^th century AD and Syrian
tile 15^th century AD - Image courtesy of the
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

The Persians imported a significant amount of Chinese pottery, which caused Chinese porcelain to be widely known in the Middle East and further afield, no doubt helped by the story that Chinese pottery was magical and detected poison! It was the Persian merchants who transported the Chinese ceramics, as Chinese merchants only carried out local shipping. The Chinese potters took commissions and made pieces to suit the Persian market. For example a blue and white porcelain tubular stand made in the Ming Dynasty (Yongle 1403-24 AD) is inscribed in Arabic and based on a Middle East Islamic metalwork design. The Chinese style decoration on blue and white ware was also widely copied in the Middle East. The earliest was probably in Syria towards the end of the 14^th century and there is similar evidence in Jorjan. As a consequence of these links, Iranians developed a new style of painting based on a combination of Mesopotamian and Chinese styles. Once they gained more freedom, the art of lustrous glaze on ceramics was further developed by the Persian potters who made vases and decorated their palaces with wonderfully decorated tiles set in arabesque patterns and Islamic motifs.

9.54 The Timurids

Tiles in Blue Mosque Tabriz
- source wiki shervinafshar

Timurid Muqarnas tile
14^th century AD
- source Simon Ray

In 1393 AD there was another devastating invasion of Iran by the Timurids, led by Timur (Tamerlane), whose huge army destroyed many cities such as Jorjan. This Central Asian conqueror was Turkic from Uzbekistan, rather than a true Mongol. He was extremely brutal, making a name for building pyramids of skulls of those he defeated, and the size of his Empire rivalled that of the Seljuks at its peak. His descendants eventually became the Mughuls of Northern India. Timur took most of the Persian and Syrian artists to his capital, Samarkand, which then became the centre of the arts. The golden age of Timurid art started in the reign of Shah Rukh (1404-1447 AD), who was also a calligrapher. The most magnificent manifestation of the ceramics of this period was architectural decoration using enamelled pottery and faience bricks and tiles.

This decoration was beautiful and elaborate and can be seen today in shrines in Samarkand, Timur’s mausoleum, madrasahs and the Blue Mosque in Tabriz.