Islamic Glass in the Making

"Islamic Glass in the Making: Chronological and Geographical Dimensions" is a book by Nadine Schibille, published open access by Leuven University Press in 2022 in the series Studies in Archaeological Sciences. ^{3 4} It sets out to trace the development of early Islamic glassmaking recipes and to establish compositional markers that separate regional and temporal production groups of plant-ash glass. ¹

The book draws on well over five thousand data points from published and unpublished analyses and compares glass assemblages from al-Andalus to Central Asia. ^{5 2} The author states that it deals with typology and working techniques only briefly, concentrating on composition, since a glass's chemistry can serve as an indicator of historical change. ⁶ She uses "Islamic glass" for glass made in the Islamic period in lands under Islamic rule, making no assumption about the identity of the glassmakers or patrons. ⁷

After the introduction come five chapters: Egypt and its local administration; Greater Syria and distribution patterns; Mesopotamia and the preservation of plant-ash recipes; al-Andalus "from polis to madina", with Sicily and the Maghreb; and a conclusion. ^{8 9 10}

The author argues that the glass industry was recast within a short time by imperial expansion and the founding of new capitals and caliphal residences: as commerce turned to Damascus, much Egyptian glass reached Syria, and Egypt seems to have been the main supplier for the mosaics of the Great Umayyad Mosque. ² The new Abbasid residences in Syria and Mesopotamia intensified local industry, while al-Andalus, cut off from the east, developed its own glassmaking. ^{11 12} She ends by calling for a broad study of North African glass, for which analytical data are almost wholly lacking. ¹²