Black on white ware (Khurasan and Transoxiana)

Black on white ware is the third of the three largest groups of glazed earthenware at Nishapur: decorated in black only on a white engobe and covered with a clear, usually colourless lead glaze. ¹ Wilkinson counts it among the most attractive Nishapur wares, the clarity of its simple, lively designs striking the eye after the confusion of colour and scratched lines in colour-splashed ware. ¹

Modern knowledge of it began at the end of the nineteenth century, when it was found in quantity in Transoxiana: fragments from Afrasiyab were given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1898, and the Berlin museum acquired a large collection of sherds and wasters in 1906, proving manufacture at Afrasiyab. ¹ It has also been found at Tashkent, Gurgan, Merv and Lashkari Bazar, showing its use in all the important cities of the eastern Islamic lands from the ninth century to the eleventh. ¹ Wasters at Nishapur show it was made there; some pieces carry designs unlike those of other centres, while others seem imported. ²

The Nishapur body is usually reddish; the engobe normally covers the whole vessel including the base, applied so thickly that the glaze cannot bond with the body, so that glaze and engobe often flake off together. ² Wilkinson notes that pieces with a pure white engobe and a colourless glaze also excel in potting and decoration, showing that the whiteness was sought. ² Arabic inscriptions in many forms dominate its decoration, including letters with large triangular or foliated heads. ³