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Arthur Lane

آرثر لين

British ceramic historian at the Victoria and Albert Museum, author of Early Islamic Pottery (1947), French Faience and Greek Pottery in the Faber series 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
Scholar
Era
The Colonial Era
Region
al-Andalus & Europe

Life in time

185018751900192519501975200020252050
The Colonial Era · The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: A. K. Fazlul Huq · Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani · Abbas Kiarostami · Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad · Abd al-Aziz al-Ghumari

Arts of the bookEngineering and technology

Summary

Arthur Lane, of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, wrote three books in the Faber Monographs on Pottery and Porcelain: Early Islamic Pottery, French Faience and Greek Pottery. 1 2

His approach to Islamic pottery

  • He relies on dated excavations such as Samarra, occupied by the caliphs between 856 and 885 and then abandoned, so that its sherds are closely dated. 3
  • He warns that dates on minai wares are often forged and that overglaze colours are skilfully imitated by forgers. 4
  • He uses the potters' own inscriptions, such as "the work of Ibrahim … in Misr" on the Fatimid elephant bowl and the signatures of "Muslim" and "Sa'd". 5 6
  • He cites the technical treatise of Abu al-Qasim of Kashan, written at Tabriz in 1301, and thinks he may himself have been a potter of the family that made the Kashan lustre tiles. 7 8

Connections

Explore the connections

Authored
Early Islamic Pottery (Arthur Lane)

People and things also explored

Islamic lustreware· Lakabi ware· Minai ware· Early Islamic Pottery (Arthur Lane)· Al-Fustat· al-Raqqa· Rayy· Samarra

Sources

  1. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 3
  2. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 6
  3. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 26
  4. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 61
  5. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 36
  6. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 37
  7. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 58
  8. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, London: Faber and Faber, 1947 , p. 60
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Arthur Lane”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/arthur-lane/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

Islamic lustreware

Metallic-sheened pottery developed in Iraq and Fatimid Egypt, then travelling to Persia and Islamic Spain; among the most prized Islamic ceramics.