General Information

Syrian early Islamic Yellow Glaze/Polychrome Painted ware is the most common of the Early Islamic glazed finewares made in North Syria/Southeast Turkey. This ware was used to make the basic array of table vessels, and there were many local producers, e.g., in Antioch, Raqqa, and possibly Tarsūs as early as the late-8th century until about the first quarter of the 9th century - though new evidence now suggests that production continued into the mid-9th to mid-10th century. This ware has been found at port sites such as al-Mina as well as in rural settlements in most surveys, such as those of the Amuq, Maraş, and Qoueiq. It was apparently introduced into Iraq and Susa, with painted glazed wares also seen even farther east at Nishapur, Susa, and the South Caucasus.

The popularity of this ware from the mid-8th to the 9th and perhaps 10th centuries was a result of trends in both consumption and fashion. Its owes its spread to far-away destinations—down the Euphrates to South Iraq, Iran, and even East Africa—to the commercial boom during the ‘Abbāsid period.

Mustard and Cress ware, Sparsely Splashed Ware