A Chinese Muse in the Caliph’s Court: The Influence of Chinese Ceramic Technology Across the Indian Ocean (Eighth to Fourteenth Century CE)

Abstract

The emergence of powerful Islamic caliphates in West Asia during the post-Sasanian centuries witnessed an unprecedented dynamism in commercial and cultural contacts between the Persian Gulf and the South China Seas. This paper focuses on the exchanges between these caliphates and the kilns of South China. It discusses how the aesthetics of Islamic ceramics were redefined, transforming a functional commodity into a medium of artistic expression. Unsurprisingly West Asian and Chinese ceramics are reported in the active ports of Gujarat, host of numerous Arab and Persian traders. What is lesser known is that glazed West Asian pottery was manufactured in Khambhat/Cambay. This paper traces the development of ceramic technology from South China to the Persian Gulf and eventually to the shores of Gujarat.