Themes and images on the animate buff ware of medieval Nishapur

Thesis

As a method of ordering the material, I have divided the examples of animate buff ware into two groups: a. those marked "w", are the items included by Charles K. Wilkinson in his catalogue of the wares excavated at Nishapur, by the Metropolitan Museum Expedition, and published by him in: "“Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period"; b. those marked "o" are the examples I have collected from other sources.

Chapter 1, is a description of the pots; technical and visual. At the end of the thesis, I have included an Appendix, in which Table A is an alphabetical division of the buff ware items according to theme and subject. It is included in the text of Chapter 1, but also relates to the reference letter(s) applied to each piece beside its illustration in the Plates. For practical reasons, the items in group "w" have been illustrated in the order in which they appeared in the Wilkinson catalogue; the "o" group are arranged according to ny list of theme and subject, as given in Table A.

Table B, lists such measurements as I have been able to glean from the published sources. As far as shapes are concerned, I have included profiles of the pots wherever possible among the illustrations. For the "w" items, I have given the location in Nishapur where each was found, and these are marked on the map on Plate 1.b

When it was too late to remedy the error, I realised I had included two of Wilkinson's pots in the "o" group, since they had been published elsewhere. The error persists only in the illustrations, as lists and tables have been corrected. In Chapter 2, I have looked for a background against which to set the pots. For this, I have focused on a few salient or interesting aspects of demography, culture and commerce; a trial dig or two into the great "tepe" of the history of the time, and Nishapur in particular.

In contrast, Chapter 3 is a visual scan; first of some contemporary wares which are known to have been in Nishapur alongside the buff; then, bearing in mind what others have said, and with a few clues from Chapter 2, I have played “stylistic Pelmanism", with the surrounding civilizations and cultures, past and tenth century.

For transliteration of Persian and Arabic names and words, I have followed the Cambridge History of Iran. With regard to dates, I have given them according to the Christian era unless otherwise stated. On occasions I have followed them with the Hijra dates, if I thought it particularly relevant.

Authors: Fitzherbert, T

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-yeaydmy6o
• Type of award: MPhil
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: buff ware; animate buff ware; medieval; Iran; themes; Nīshāpūr; images; Islamic pottery; antiquities
• Subjects: Islamic pottery; Nīshāpūr (Iran) -- Antiquities