Unglazed earthenware (early Islamic Iran)

Many find the unglazed earthenware of the early Islamic period less important than the glazed, lacking its variety of colour and decoration and being mostly a humble product for lowly uses; Wilkinson, however, sees its chief interest in revealing aspects of life neither described in early Islamic literature nor, given the scarcity of painting, pictured. ¹

At Nishapur the difference between unglazed and glazed was one of function, not merely of cost: unglazed ware served for cooking vessels and above all for storing water, its porosity unfitting it for milk, wine or oil. ¹ Through it potable water reached the city and was stored and drunk — storage jars, large pitchers holding water in every house, and small pitchers to drink from — and its pitchers kept water cool by evaporation in a hot, dry land. ¹ Most small drinking vessels had handles because of their wet surface, which explains why the tapered tumbler shape is rare in Iranian earthenware though common in Iranian glass. ¹

It was also made into lanterns, lamps, candlesticks, flowerpots, coin containers and toys, parts of fireplaces, and moulds and dies for making pottery itself, glazed and unglazed. ¹ By analogy with E. W. Lane's account of Egypt, Wilkinson suggests that well-to-do Nishapuris used unglazed pitchers in the warm months and glazed ones in the cold. ¹