Tradition
Islamic Lusterware
Middle East/Spain · 9th–17th century
Gold without gold. Light captured in glaze.
Islamic potters invented a technique to make ceramics shimmer like metal—without using precious metals.
Lusterware is one of the great innovations in ceramic history. Developed in 9th-century Iraq, the technique deposits thin metallic films on the glaze surface, creating an iridescent sheen that shifts from gold to copper to ruby as the light changes. The process is demanding: painting metallic oxides onto an already-fired glazed surface, then re-firing in heavy reduction. The technique spread across the Islamic world and eventually to Italy.
What effect might be worth mastering despite its difficulty?
Techniques
- Luster painting
- Third firing
- Heavy reduction
- Metallic oxides