Sgraffito splashware
Date:
Tenth and eleventh centuries
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Iran
Medium:
Earthenware
Description:
Sgraffito, from the Italian word for "scratched," is a term applied to slipped glazed wares incised with sharp tools. The incisions allow designs in the natural reddish-brown of the clay to contrast with polychrome glazes. In tenth-century Iran, especially in Nishapur, splashwares were augmented with sagraffito designs as in the bowls reproduced here. The Serçe Limanı shipwreck, a Byzantine merchant ship that sank off the coast of Turkey around 1025, had examples of Fatimid sgraffito and splashwares, offering evidence of the desirability of such wares and the spread of the techniques used to make them.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
5,
6
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the techniques involved in making sgraffito ware.
• Read more about the bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Image Credits:
Metropolitan Museum, Wikimedia Commons
