Bahram Gur and Azada in medieval Persian minai ceramics

¶ … Bahram Gur and Azada's Representations

The significance of Bahram Gur and Azad scene depiction is on artistic bowls of the medieval time. The bowls refer to ceramics, which illustrate different stories of Persian epic. This form of ceramic in modern times associate with Islamic ceramics, and it is a medieval enameling technique of Persia. These forms of enamel characterized by painting also relate to abundant figurative decorations. Few examples indicate that these paintings originate from the city of Kashan (Richard 25-31). The city was a leading manufacturing centre during the period. Decoration of minai', a painting, which uses both over glazed and unglazed techniques, was famous with the town of Kashan.

Description of Appearance of the Bowls

All minai bowls or vessels are typical white, but at times have turquoise. The technique of decoration is inglaze technique where decorations application is over unfired base, and during firing, the pigments sink into molten matrix. The colorants in this method are clay or quartz. The mixture's temperature rises beyond melting point that inhibits dissolution at high temperatures. These high temperatures ensure that the base glaze needs fusing. Overgrazed decorations, on the other hand; the application occurs on the surfaces of fired base glaze while the bowl contains frit which is glass powdered, fused and cooled in preparation for use during the second time of firing. Second firing in this technique is very important since it binds the pigments on the surfaces of the enamel.

Decorations are in red, black, pink, white, green, yellow, and turquoise. Most common colors in use are blue, black, and red. Black pigment in the enamel is a product of the mineral chromate. The particles elongation measures sixteen million microns in size. The particles may appear either brown or blue, but they are black in general. Those glazed layers are a representation of green haloes, a characteristic that can help distinguish manganese-based black coloring in medieval Islamic ceramics. The lack in rounding of particles in glaze layers is an indication of high melting points, which may result to a shiny black element. Chromate is nearly in every piece of ceramics (Barbara 156-164). It is an element in use in under drawings of inglaze and overglaze designs. Qasim's recipe, on the other hand, includes frit and muzzard, which reflect a change in technique from previous designs. These designs are a result of other forms of ingredients in enamels.

Red enamels are in almost all "minai" vessels. These vessels coloration uses hematite. The property of the element is a red pigment also coined "Buhari" or "qamsari." Red enamel layers measures approximately twenty-four microns, contains quartz, and pigments within a glassy platform. To produce highly saturated red colors hematite, it requires two microns measurement. However, in practice the amount of red incorporated in over glazed red enamels were lower than other colors. The difficulty in balancing the properties of raw materials would result in inhomogeneous or poorly joined elements of the enamel. Another form used in the interior and the exterior of ceramics had cobalt properties. The pigment was much valued during the period of Seljuk for its beauty and rarity (Barbara 156-164). Qasim also refer to the blue color on enamels. During the period, the blue color pigment also known as "Sulaimani" illustrated the interior as well as the exterior of the bowls. Recipes for the blue color depended on the amount of cobalt use on the decoration. The blue colors on the enamel represent a low level of less than two percent. Cobalt on the other hand, appears to be the deep blue stain that appears below the surface of the gaze. The presence of discrete glassy blue stains indicates that the cobalt was a result of the frit process. Fritting has many advantages for highly soluble pigments the process discourages bleeding thus produce more elements that are homogeneous. The process further suggests high melting points with low levels of lead observed in the glazes (Barbara 156-164).

Discussion of Narrative Scenes

Conclusion

Depictions of these scenes of ceramics illustrate the history of Iran during the Persian epic. These objects illustrated by potters show how life was in the period, stories of legends and leaders and how the society viewed the world. Iran seems to be the epicenter for Islamic art during the 12 to the 13th century. It became one of the greatest artistic centers at the time. This form of art depicted on bowls, and other forms of ceramics have important cultural significance to the Iranian people and the Islamic world as a whole. Iranian artists demonstrate tremendous skills and technical understanding in demonstrating ideas and information by use of scenes. The scenes replication is in a number of other ceramic vessels, which can help one understand the culture of Iran during the medieval time.