Islamic stone-paste

Chinese white ware porcelain dish (left), 9th century, excavated in Iran, and stone-paste dish made in Iran (right), 12th century. British Museum.
Stone-paste dish with grape design, Iznik pottery, Turkey, 1550-70. British Museum.

Islamic stone-paste, also called fritware and quartz frit, is a ceramic material which seems to have been first manufactured in Iraq in the 9th century.[1] Egypt was the main center of manufacture between the 10th and the 12th century, but it then spread throughout the Middle-East until modern times.[1]

Islamic stone-paste is made by combining clay with quartz or other siliceous material, as well as glass frit, to which is adjoined an organic compound such as gum or glue for binding.[1]

A glaze, processed at a higher temperature, was then applied on the surface to harden the object.[1]

Islamic stone-paste was invented to give a stronger body to its pottery material, which, combined with tin-glazing of the surface, allowed it to approximate the result of Chinese porcelain.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Archaeological chemistry by Zvi Goffer p.254
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