Following the death of the prophet Muhammad in AD 632, the future of Islam lay in the hands of four successive Caliphs, who sought to build on Muhammad’s legacy and expand the frontiers of Islam. The final of these Caliphs, Muhammad’s cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, deposed various regional governors, whom he considered corrupt. This included Mu’awiya, the brother of a previous Caliph; Mu’awiya would not tolerate such an indignity, and began a brutal and bloody civil war, known as the First Fitna. The conflict ended with the assassination of Ali, as he prayed in the Mosque of Kufa, in AD 661. Mu’awiya became Caliph, and founded the Umayyad Dynasty. No longer would the Caliph be chosen by his predecessor, or by a council of leading Muslims. Instead, the Caliphate became a hereditary monarchy, with Mu’awiya at the centre. For a hundred years, Mu’awiya and his successors dominated the Muslim world. But this was not to last; they were overthrown by the Abbasid Dynasty, descended from Muhammad’s uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, and supported by the followers of Ali, who never accepted his assassination or the new Umayyad rule.

The Umayyads and the subsequent Abbasids laid the foundation for Islamic art. At first, the main influences were the Late Antique naturalistic tradition, and the more formal modes of Byzantine and Sassanid art. But gradually, the Islamic world began to formulate its own artistic forms, focussed especially on animal, vegetal and figural motifs. This meeting of worlds is evident in this fine Umayyad or Abbasid jug. From a narrow foot, the jug rises to a broad, globular body, curving round to a slender neck, with a tall, arching handle rising from the shoulder. The piece is decorated in a low moulded relief. At the base, geometric elements criss-cross, interspersed with small medallions that depict rays or petals. Above that is another, more organic, design, also punctuated with small medallions. Then, a series of ‘S’-shaped motifs, which closely resemble birds (some of the shapes have a small dot to indicate an eye), followed by a row of globular, organic patterns. Stripes disguise the join between the two halves of the vessel, which would have been moulded separately and joined by hand. The main decoration of the jug is on the shoulder: on a field of raised dots, which lend this vessel a tactile feel, are a series of eight roundels, each containing a decoration of vertical strokes and circles in five or six registers. A series of stamped triangular decorations are placed between some (but not all) of the roundels. The neck is undecorated, ending in an everted rim. The neck and rim have been restored following some significant breakages.

Scholarship has been dismissive of the Umayyad and early Abbasid pottery, with one article suggesting that ‘there was little pottery of merit’ from the period. Most scholarly attention is drawn to the later Abbasid: in AD 800, the first traders from Tang Dynasty China made their way to the Abbasid heartland, and brought with them the decorative techniques of the Chinese potters. After then, Islamic pottery is associated with the same ingenious use of glazes, and the same experimentation with form and function, which characterises Chinese porcelain. However, there is much that is noteworthy about these early Umayyad and Abbasid attempts. While it may be unglazed, and the handiwork a little rough and ready, the elegance of the form, and the intricacy of the decoration should not be underestimated.