Technique

As the colour of my object was one of the first things that grabbed my attention, researching the history around the technique of this kind of pottery was one of my first research questions. And the information that I have come across has been fascinating. 

Though there are numerous colours that can be made from metallic ores, their behaviour in conjunction with the glaze and the heat of the kiln has always been hard to manage. The heat necessary to fire the pottery and fuse it to the glaze historically tended to either completely ruin the colour or affect its stability. Until the beginning of the 12th century, this meant that a very limited palette of colours was available. However, at the advent of this new age, they discovered that if a pot was fired and glazed first at a high temperature, they could then apply more layers of the less stable colours on top and fire again at a lower temperature - vastly opening up the range of hues available to them. 

Whilst double firing had been practised elsewhere in lustre painting since the 9th century, they were somewhat surprisingly only adopted by Persian potters later and were never adopted in Syria or Egypt. 

There were two ways of using low-temperature colours. In the first, the haft rang or 'seven colour' process described by Abulqasim of Kashan, parts of the design were painted in clear pale blue, purple and green on or under the raw glaze before the pot received its first firing; black outlines and other supplementary colours mixed with a vitreous flux were then added and fixed in one or more further firings at a lower temperature.  Conspicuous among the supplementary colours were a shiny black, chestnut, Pompeian red, white, and leaf gilding. For this composite technique the name minai (enamel) is now used by dealers and collectors. Exquisite effects were often obtained by using as ground an opaque glaze stained pale turquoise blue - the colour of a hedge-sparrow's egg (pictured), one of the rarest and most surprising in nature. We also find lilac tones and a very deep, resonant blue. 

Potters of built up relief in parts to be guilded, or modelled figures themselves in high relief. Where pottery was constantly travelling to and fro between painter and kiln, these areas almost built themselves up. From my object, I can see clearly how the potter has taken advantage of the new palette available to them, and with beautiful use of gold leaf as well.

Rayy, Kashan, and perhaps Sava are the main locations where the minai technique was used, although these schools cannot be isolated with any certainty, even by the most knowledgeable art collectors. Early pieces, especially though which were experimental, show mini colours with a combination of lustre painting in the Kashan style. One also has to be aware that the dates printed on mini vessels are often fraudulent to take advantage of the arts market. However, it seems clear that this kind of pottery originated in the last quarter of the 12th centre and had past by the time of the Mongol invasions in the 1220's. 

But Abulqasim and a later commentator on his work also refer to a lajvardian ware still made at the end of the thirteenth century. This can be identified with the pottery and tiles painted over the glaze in a limited palette of opaque red, black, white and gold leaf, the latter being cut into angular shapes before application. Glazes or deep rich blue (lajvard) and turquoise were favourite ground colours, and the designs often show the Chinese lotus, phoenix and dragon that became popular under the Ilkhanid Mongol rulers. In shapes the lajvardina wares resemble the lustre and underglaze painted wares of the Sultanabad district; they tend to be clumsy in potting and uninteresting in ornament. The coarse and greyish body material is also of inferior quality.

Source: Lane, 1947