Raqqa ware
Raqqa ware is the conventional designation for ceramic wares that were a mainstay of the economy of Raqqa (Ar-Raqqah) in northeastern Syria on the banks of the Euphrates, during the Ayyubid dynasty. The city experienced a resurgence during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, but when it was sacked by the Mongols in 1259 and destroyed in 1265, manufacture of its ceramics virtually ceased.[1]
The ceramics of Raqqa were varied in character, but have been identified during the 20th century by on-site excavations that securely linked the highly sought-after surviving pieces to Ar-Raqquah.[2] Over a heavily-potted body of coarse stone-paste often covered with a white slip, monochrome and polychrome underglaze stains of copper (turquoise), cobalt (blue) or manganese (purplish-brown) were covered with a greenish clear glaze and fired. Lustreware was also developed at Raqqa, after the Fatimid collapse in Egypt (1171), which had been the only center of lustreware production.[3]
Major collections are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Ashmolean Museum.
Notes
- ^ Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn (2006) Raqqa Revisited: Ceramics of Ayyubid Syria (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
- ^ Ashmolean Museum: Characteristics of Raqqa lustre.
- ^ Ashmolean Museum: the history of lustreware in Syria.
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