GLASS IN EARLY ISLAMIC SOCIETY- TOWARD A GREATER UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

East has been augmented by recent archaeological excavations in the region, although we still await the publication of a number of reports, describing in detail the significant vessels and furnace finds. This article suggests that investigation of the early and mediaeval literary sources from the Arab world could also lead us to a greater appreciation of how glass was valued and appreciated in those times, and of what qualities were deemed more aesthetically important by the purchases and collector. Yet these very qualities were for some reason set aside by the fourteenth century, when highly decorated enamelled and gilded work on poor quality glass had become the fashion at the Mamluk court.