Of all the material culture of the Islamic World prior to the sixteenth century, only ceramics survive in a way which forms a continuous representative visual history. As such, ceramics provide a unique collection of material from which to study the history of technology. The main technological developments associated with glazed Islamic ceramics were the introduction of tin-opacified glazes, stonepaste bodies, and an extended range of colorants. For each of these developments, consideration is given to the reasons why new technologies were introduced, from where the ideas for the new technologies originated, and why particular technological choices were made. In addition, brief consideration is given both to the very different glaze technologies employed in contemporary China, and to the subsequent spread of the glazed Islamic technology into Western Europe.
1. Introduction; 2. Technological Innovations; 3. Eastern Mediterranean and Southern Mesopotamia; 4. Egypt and Syria; 5. Iran and the Greater Iran; 6. Anatolia; 7. The Introduction of Islamic Ceramic Technology into Christian Europe; 8. Conclusions.
