Papers by Moujan Matin
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2023
The origins and early development of stonepaste pottery has been a subject of controversy. This p... more The origins and early development of stonepaste pottery has been a subject of controversy. This paper examines eleven pottery fragments from Fustat, Egypt that were previously studied and discussed based on art historical grounds. Using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy examination of bodies and glazes, different stages of the development of stonepaste technology in Fustat are demonstrated. The relationship of this technology in Fustat with other Islamic regions is discussed based on available data.
Stonepaste (or fritware) is an artificial ceramic body, generally thought to have been produced f... more Stonepaste (or fritware) is an artificial ceramic body, generally thought to have been produced from the eleventh/twelth century in the Islamic lands. Stonepaste production radically transformed the development of medieval Islamic ceramics and was eventually used for all high-quality pottery in central and eastern Islamic lands until the modern period. Despite the significance of stonepaste ceramics, archaeological evidence for their production is extremely rare and most propositions of provenance are based on art historical evidence alone. This paper reports evidence for stonepaste ceramic production from the medieval site of Moshkin Tepe in Central Iran, including stonepaste ceramic sherds, wasters, and a large collection of manufacturing equipment (i.e. hand mills, kiln rods, saggars, and remnants of kiln walls). Through field surface collection and laboratory analyses of the finds, this paper identifies the distinctive characteristics of Moshkin Tepe stonepaste ceramics. It also discusses the manufacturing equipment used and compares the material finds with the descriptions in the medieval Persian textual account by Abu'l Qasim Kashani on the production of stonepaste wares. The results presented here could pave the way to trace and study the manufacture of stonepaste ceramics and to compare different productions across the broader context of medieval Islamic lands.
This appendix provides new English translations and commentary on two Persian manuscripts on the ... more This appendix provides new English translations and commentary on two Persian manuscripts on the manufacture of medieval ceramics. The first is the final chapter of Arāyis al-Jawāhir va Nafāyis al-Atāyib by Abu’l Qasim Kashani, dated 1301, which is the most comprehensive written account that is known on the manufacture of medieval Persian ceramics and provides rigorous descriptions of the materials used and the preparation and firing processes. The second is the fourth chapter of Jawāhir-Nāmeh-yi Nizāmī by Jowhari Nishaburi, dated 1196, which focuses on recipes for lustre decoration on ceramics and glass. Through integrating information from various ethnographic and geological sources, as well as results of recent scientific analyses of ceramics, this translation and commentary provides new insights into the manufacture of medieval Persian ceramics.
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 2020
This paper focuses on the production technology of late nineteenth-century tiles from the Ettehad... more This paper focuses on the production technology of late nineteenth-century tiles from the Ettehadieh House Complex in Tehran, Iran. It makes use of the opportunity to provide for the first time the results of chemical and microstructural analyses of late nineteenth-century tiles selected directly from context and with known provenance. The paper integrates the results of chemical study of the Ettehadieh tiles with other available technological information on nineteenth-century Persian tiles, including chemical analyses of signed tiles and samples of pigments, as well as the study of the treatise of a certain Persian potter, ‘Ali Mohammad Isfahani, to suggest processes of materials procurement and manufacture. These processes are used as evidence to discuss trade and technological interactions between Iran and Europe in the nineteenth century.
Muqarnas 36, 2019
In 2014 the Ashmolean Museum conserved and examined one of the largest and most handsome ceramic ... more In 2014 the Ashmolean Museum conserved and examined one of the largest and most handsome ceramic vessels in its renowned Islamic art collection. An accomplished example of early thirteenth-century Persian lusterware from the bequest of Sir Alan Barlow, the salver had an unusually deformed profile and uneven wear that pointed at a number of past interventions. Some of these had already been uncovered in 2008 when the object was prepared for reinstallation in the revamped Ashmolean. However, it was only when analyzed by a team of inhouse specialists and scientists from Cranfield University and the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at the University of Oxford, that the extraordinary nature of its “restoration” could be assessed. This article presents the results of this collaborative effort and contributes important evidence to the thorny issue of the faking and forging of Islamic ceramics in the early twentieth century, when collecting Islamic decorative arts was at its peak.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 26, 2019
Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2018
Tin-based opacification by tin oxide and lead-tin-oxide particles was used in glass production si... more Tin-based opacification by tin oxide and lead-tin-oxide particles was used in glass production since the first millennium BC and in ceramic glazes since the eighth century AD. Opacification process is often characterised by significant amounts of tin oxide and lead oxide dispersed into glassy matrices or by identification of the opacifying particles by means of microstructural or (micro-)XRD analyses. The processes of opacification and manufacture are usually more difficult to establish from compositional and microstructural analyses because they leave little diagnostic traces. This review aims to integrate compositional data on archaeological glass and glazes and in particular the Pb/Sn values, with descriptions of the opacification processes in historical treatises, observations at traditional workshops, and the results of previous replication experiments to shed further light on technological issues underlying these methods of opacification and highlight new research perspectives.
Journal of Archaeological Science (97), 2018
It has been generally accepted that the beginnings of tin-based opacification of ceramic glazes i... more It has been generally accepted that the beginnings of tin-based opacification of ceramic glazes is associated with the white glazed wares excavated in Iraq and western Iran and dated to the ninth century AD (so-called 'Samarra-type' pottery). This paper focuses on an earlier stage in the technological development of tin-opacified glazes, that is, the yellow and white glazed wares produced from the eighth century AD in Egypt and the Levant. In addition, the compositional data was extended for the subsequent spread of tin-opacified glazes into Mesopotamia in the ninth century and Northern Iran and Central Asia in the tenth century. Using SEM-EDS and SR-Micro-XRD, the chemical composition and microstructure of eighty-five samples of opaque yellow and white glazed wares from Egypt (Fustat), the Levant (Madaba, Aqaba, Al-Mina and Raqqa), Mesopotamia (Samarra, Kish, Basra and Susa), Northern Iran (Takht-i Suleiman), and Central Asia (Nishapur, Merv and Samarqand) were investigated. These data confirmed that the yellow and white glazes were opacified by lead-tin-oxide (PbSnO 3) and tin oxide (SnO 2) particles respectively. Replication experiments were then conducted to imitate typical compositions of the analysed opaque yellow and opaque white glazes. Overall, the results posited the beginning of tin-based opacification of glazes in the eighth century in Egypt and the Levant, and provided explanations as to how the production of opaque yellow and white glazes in the Levant and Mesopotamia might have been technologically linked.
Muqarnas (35), 2018
The Risāla dar tafṣīl-i sākhtan-i chīnī (A Treatise on Porcelain Manufacture) is a Qajar-period... more The Risāla dar tafṣīl-i sākhtan-i chīnī (A Treatise on Porcelain Manufacture) is a Qajar-period manuscript in Persian, housed at the Sipahsalar Library in Tehran. It is the only known source that details the modern technology of porcelain production in the Qajar era (1789–1925). According to the information in the colophon, the scribe, Masih ibn Muhammad Baqir al-Firuzabadi, completed the manuscript in the year 1284 (1868). The text mentions that it is the translation of a French work, but no further reference to the original book is given. The purpose of this essay is to introduce and review the Persian manuscript, to reveal its relation to the three-volume Traité des arts céramiques ou des poteries (Treatise on Ceramic Arts or Potteries) by Alexandre Brongniart, a nineteenth-century scientist and director of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, and to underline its importance to the history of art and technology in Qajar Iran.
Archaeometry, 2014
Glazed objects, mainly in the form of glazed quartz and steatite solid stones, first appeared dur... more Glazed objects, mainly in the form of glazed quartz and steatite solid stones, first appeared during the fifth millennium bc. At the present time, it is generally accepted that the accidental discovery of glazing was associated with ancient copper production. However, the replication experiments already conducted on glazed stones were unable to provide a convincing explanation for the accidental invention of ceramic glazes. This paper attempts to suggest a possible explanation for the accidental invention of glazes on solid stones (i.e., steatite and quartz) during the Chalcolithic period. A series of replication experiments were undertaken and the resulting objects were examined using SEM–EDS.
Archaeometry, 2017
Ore samples collected from the cobalt mine of Qamsar, Kāshān, were studied using optical microsco... more Ore samples collected from the cobalt mine of Qamsar, Kāshān, were studied using optical microscopy (OM), qualitative X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), semi-quantitative X-ray fluo-rescence spectrometry (XRF) and quantitative electron micro-probe with wavelength-dispersive spectrometry (EMP–WDS). These analytical data provide the characteristics of the Kāshān cobalt ore, which can be compared with the composition of the blue pigments and colourants applied to glass and glazes, not least those of Islamic and Chinese blue-and-white wares. Preliminary replication studies of the pigment were also conducted according to the descriptions given in the Persian and European historical texts reviewed in a previous paper. The resulting phases were examined under an optical microscope and a semi-quantitative energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) attached to a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The ore was shown to contain high Fe and As concentrations and negligible Zn and Ni concentrations. Cobaltite (CoAsS) and erythrite (Co 3 (AsO 4) 2 .8H 2 O) made up the two main cobalt-bearing minerals in the ore. The washing processes that were conducted based on a historical text rendered the ore more enriched with erythrite. In light of the new data on the Kāshān cobalt ore, the origins of the blue pigments used in some of the Islamic and Chinese ceramics are reconsidered.
IRAN (Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies), 53, 2015
The cobalt mine of Qamsar, southwest of the city of Kāshān, in central Iran, has long been consid... more The cobalt mine of Qamsar, southwest of the city of Kāshān, in central Iran, has long been considered as a prime source of cobalt ore from ancient times until the early twentieth century AD. A review of the known Persian and European historical accounts describing the deposit, its cobalt ores and the technologies involved in the production of the blue pigment is presented here. The aim is to provide a comprehensive background against which to understand the traditional ore processing technologies involved in the production of the famous cobalt blue pigment.
The generally accepted theory is that the demand for Islamic glazed pottery started in Abbasid Ir... more The generally accepted theory is that the demand for Islamic glazed pottery started in Abbasid Iraq in the 9th century AD with the production of a range of glazed wares in response to the import of Chinese stonewares and porcelains. However, Oliver Watson has recently proposed that the demand for Islamic glazed pottery first occurred in Egypt and Syria in the 8th century AD resulting in the production of opaque yellow decorated wares. Using a combination of SEM analysis of polished cross-sections, and surface analysis using hand-held XRF or PIXE, Coptic Glazed Ware from Egypt, Yellow Glazed Ware from Syria, and comparable wares from Samarra, Kish and Susa have been analysed. The analyses show that the opaque yellow decoration was the result of lead stannate particles in a high lead glaze, which it is suggested was produced using a lead-silica-tin mixture. The use of lead stannate in the production of yellow opaque glazes is explained in terms of technological transfer from contemporary Islamic glass- makers who continued the Byzantine tradition of glassmaking. It is further argued that the introduction of opaque yellow glazed pottery into Mesopotamia could have provided the social context for the sudden emergence of tin-opacified white glazed pottery in Abbasid Iraq in the 9th century AD. However, in view of the very different glaze compositions employed for the yellow and white opaque glazes, it seems probable that the white tin-opacified glazes used for Abbasid cobalt blue and lustre decorated wares represent a separate but parallel technological tradition with its origins in the production of Islamic opaque white glass.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2016
The Nabataeans, who founded the city of Petra (southern Jordan) in the late first millennium BCE,... more The Nabataeans, who founded the city of Petra (southern Jordan) in the late first millennium BCE, are noted for the production of a distinctive very fine pottery with painted decoration and a wall thickness sometimes as little as 1.5 mm; this pottery appears largely locally made and not widely circulated. Using a combination of OM, SEM with attached EDS, surface XRF, and XRD, it is shown that the Nabataean fine pottery bodies were produced using semi-calcareous clays which were fired to temperatures of about 950 °C. In contrast, published data indicate that contemporary and in many ways apparently functionally equivalent Roman terra sigillata, which was traded throughout the Roman Empire, was produced using fully-calcareous clays which were fired to temperatures in the range 1000–1100 °C. Furthermore, the high gloss slip applied to Roman terra sigillata is fully vitrified whereas the red-painted decoration applied to the Nabataean pottery is unvitrified. The more robust Roman terra sigillata is therefore better suited as tableware for serving and consuming food than would be the case for Nabataean fine pottery, and would be a more successful export material.
Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2016
Based on our current awareness, there are three
distinct primary sources of alkali flux in the a... more Based on our current awareness, there are three
distinct primary sources of alkali flux in the ancient
Egyptian faience making: natron, soda rich plant ash and the
so-called ‘mixed alkali fluxes’. Whereas the nature and origin
of the first two types are identified to some extent, there are
more questions regarding mixed alkali fluxes. In an attempt to
provide further clarification on the latter source, a series of
replication experiments on the production of Egyptian faience
by the cementation glazing method were conducted using
cattle dung ash as the source of alkali flux. After firing at
980 °C, the appearance of the faience objects, the microstructure
and the chemical composition of selected samples obtained
using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive
spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were investigated. The discussion
has primarily focused on cattle dung ash as the most, or one of
the most, available sources of ash in ancient societies and its
possible use as a source of alkali flux in the production of
Egyptian faience, at least by the cementation glazing method.
Journal of Archaeological Science, Jan 1, 2012
In cementation glazing, for various reasons, there are significant differences between the compos... more In cementation glazing, for various reasons, there are significant differences between the composition of the glass phases present in the faience microstructure and the glazing powder composition. Furthermore, in this glazing method, the glazing powder should perform more functions, which are: producing a shiny and smooth glaze coating, producing a firm capsule surrounding objects entirely (to prevent adhesion between sintered glazing mixture and the melting glaze coating), and, finally, producing a porous and friable sintered glazing mixture for safe and easy removal of buried objects. It is obvious that these functions also have significant effects on the glazing powder composition and constitution. Therefore, analytical data on faience glass phases are very unlikely to reflect the strict composition and constitution of the original glazing powder properly. Accordingly, the composition and constitution of cementation glazing powder have remained obscure for a long time. These data are particularly crucial factors for cementation replication experiments and, consequently, for our awareness of the ancient faience production. In this paper, a series of cementation replication experiments have been conducted in an attempt to provide further clarification of these issues. In addition, as a comparative indicator for alkali and copper vaporisation, a small piece of rock quartz was placed separately above the glazing powder. After firing, the appearance of the faience objects and quartz pieces and the microstructures and chemical compositions of a select group of samples, obtained using Scanning Electron Microscopy – Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), were investigated. The discussion has focused mainly on issues such as the raw materials and their contribution in the glazing process, the criteria for determining the faience glazing methods, the necessary quantity of alkalis for a successful cementation glazing, and, particularly, the glazing mechanism.► The composition and constitution of raw materials investigated. ► The mechanism of faience glazing by cementation method discussed. ► Accuracy of accepted criteria for determining faience glazing methods discussed.
Encyclopaedia Entries by Moujan Matin
The SAS Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences, 2019
In the field of ceramics, the terms " glaze " , " slip " , and " paint " designate three differen... more In the field of ceramics, the terms " glaze " , " slip " , and " paint " designate three different types of coating that are applied on the surface of unfired or once-fired (biscuit-fired) ceramic bodies for decorative or functional purposes. This entry provides an overview of the composition and different applications of glazes, slips, and paints in archaeological ceramics and outlines the primary scientific techniques used for analyzing them by reviewing examples of previous studies.
In Media by Moujan Matin
Past Events by Moujan Matin
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Papers by Moujan Matin
distinct primary sources of alkali flux in the ancient
Egyptian faience making: natron, soda rich plant ash and the
so-called ‘mixed alkali fluxes’. Whereas the nature and origin
of the first two types are identified to some extent, there are
more questions regarding mixed alkali fluxes. In an attempt to
provide further clarification on the latter source, a series of
replication experiments on the production of Egyptian faience
by the cementation glazing method were conducted using
cattle dung ash as the source of alkali flux. After firing at
980 °C, the appearance of the faience objects, the microstructure
and the chemical composition of selected samples obtained
using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive
spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were investigated. The discussion
has primarily focused on cattle dung ash as the most, or one of
the most, available sources of ash in ancient societies and its
possible use as a source of alkali flux in the production of
Egyptian faience, at least by the cementation glazing method.
Encyclopaedia Entries by Moujan Matin
In Media by Moujan Matin
Past Events by Moujan Matin
distinct primary sources of alkali flux in the ancient
Egyptian faience making: natron, soda rich plant ash and the
so-called ‘mixed alkali fluxes’. Whereas the nature and origin
of the first two types are identified to some extent, there are
more questions regarding mixed alkali fluxes. In an attempt to
provide further clarification on the latter source, a series of
replication experiments on the production of Egyptian faience
by the cementation glazing method were conducted using
cattle dung ash as the source of alkali flux. After firing at
980 °C, the appearance of the faience objects, the microstructure
and the chemical composition of selected samples obtained
using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive
spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were investigated. The discussion
has primarily focused on cattle dung ash as the most, or one of
the most, available sources of ash in ancient societies and its
possible use as a source of alkali flux in the production of
Egyptian faience, at least by the cementation glazing method.