Given the elaborate decoration of many Islamic bowls, dishes, ewers and other forms of utilitarian pottery, artisans created moulds from which many copies could be easily and efficiently made for commercial production. The fabrication of moulds became a distinct trade in itself. Skilled designers were able to supply numerous workshops, enabling them to produce wares of a quantity and quality which they could not otherwise manage on their own.


Moulds were made to shape each of the top and the bottom of vessels as well as the inside and the outside. The master mould would be formed in clay and hard fired with the design of the final product. It would then be used to generate the negative moulds. Soft clay would be pressed around the master and then separated by splitting the negative mould either horizontally or vertically. These negatives would in turn be used to create impressions in two or more parts that would be attached together, often creating visible seams on the final item.


The master mould would have been used to create other moulds of the upper half of a vessel such as a jug or pitcher. The top of the soft clay impression would have been cut away and have a neck or spout attached to it. The bottom would have been attached to a complementary bowl-like molded piece.


This mould is a beautifully rendered example. The calligraphy portrayed in low relief and simple mottled star-shaped dots which run around the exterior make it an exceptionally elegant and lively piece.