THE BEGINNINGS OF ISLAMIC STONEPASTE TECHNOLOGY*

A multidisciplinary programme of research on Islamic pottery has been focused on questions of the dating, provenance and technology of Islamic pottery. One particular question has been the development of stonepaste, a material made primarily of crushed quartz with added frit-glass and clay. The combination of the different approaches of this study has revealed early foundations for the technology in ninth-century AD Iraq, apparently originating in the clay ceramic rather than the ‘Egyptian faience’ tradition. Subsequent and final practice developed in tenth- and eleventh-century AD Egypt. This technology becomes the primary body for all fine Islamic ceramics.     

CRITERIA FOR THE PETROGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION OF STONEPASTE CERAMICS

The application of petrographic analysis to the problems of provenance attribution of ceramics made in the Islamic world is complicated by the presence of the highly quartzose ‘stonepaste’body. To facilitate the differentiation of different stonepaste groups, it has been necessary to develop specific criteria for distinguishing the characteristics of each centre, including the assessment of the degree of cloudiness of the quartz as rendered by fluid inclusions. This has enabled the successful application of petrographic analysis, and the solution of a number of provenance problems.     

LEAD GLAZES IN ANTIQUITY—METHODS OF PRODUCTION AND REASONS FOR USE*

Transparent high lead and tin-opacified lead-alkali glazes have been extensively used throughout Europe and the Near East from their first appearance in the Roman era and the tenth- to eleventh-century Islamic world, respectively, up until the present day. Using, to a large extent, information which is widely scattered through a diverse range of literature, the methods employed in the production of these two glaze types are first outlined and their merits are then compared with those of alkali glazes in terms of ease of preparation of the glaze mixture, ease of application of the glaze, ease of firing, cost of production, glaze-body fit and visual appearance. The principal advantages of transparent high lead glazes as compared to alkali glazes are shown to be ease of preparation and application of the glaze suspension, low susceptibility to glaze ‘crazing’ and ‘crawling’ and high, optical brilliance. Factors that influence the choice of tin-opacified lead-alkali glazes include ease of production of tin oxide by melting tin and lead metals together; a reduced risk of reduction of lead oxide to lead metal and consequent blackening of the glaze; and, again, low susceptibility to ‘crazing’ and ‘crawling’. Limits of current knowledge regarding these two glaze types and requirements for future research are outlined.     

THE BEGINNINGS OF TIN-OPACIFICATION OF POTTERY GLAZES

A multidisciplinary programme of research on the glazed ceramics of the Islamic world has been focused on questions of their dating, provenance and technology. One particular question has been the development of tin-opacified glazes, and the nature of glaze opacification generally in the Islamic world. The findings of the various studies combine to indicate that tin was first used experimentally in Basra, Iraq, in the first half of the eighth century AD, apparently within the context of pre-Islamic opaque-glaze technology. Over the course of the next century, an opaque-glaze technology entirely reliant on tin oxide inclusions was developed in Iraq and Egypt and, subsequently, this technology spread to the rest of the Islamic world and also to Europe.     

THE LOCATION OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUS

Summary.   The Treasury of Atreus, the largest and most impressive of the nine tholos tombs found at Mycenae, stands by itself at the southern edge of a bowl in the east slope of the Panagia ridge. This paper argues that the tomb was constructed on this particular spot so that it would be seen from the trackways/roads that led to Mycenae from the east, south-east and south-west and from the main pathway to the palace. The view of the acropolis hill and Mt. Profitis Ilias from the space occupied by the earthen mound above the tholos also appears to have influenced the choice of location. It is suggested that the position of the Treasury of Atreus was, like the tomb itself, a political statement, calculated to show that the ruler who built the tomb succeeded in extending the territory of Mycenae across the central Argolid.