The Potter "Al-Siwan "New look through a signature being published for the first time

Abstract

It is known that the regions of the Islamic state in the Middle Ages, from China in the east to Morocco and Andalusia in the west, were not isolated from each other, as the political borders known now did not exist, and Muslims were moving through these vast regions with ease and ease, and wherever they settled, they were in the land of Islam.The makers also moved freely between the various Islamic regions, and their movements were in search of stability, safe living, and the giving of art patrons from rulers and others. And the art of making and decorating Islamic ceramics in the Middle Ages did not depart from this rule, as makers and artists in the field of ceramics industry and decoration played a major role in transferring artistic, industrial and decorative methods during their constant movement from one place to another.The few remaining examples of the signatures of Muslim potters that they recorded on some of their products are the main source for identifying their names, their original homeland, their artistic methods, and the specialization and position of each of them among their peers, as contemporary historical sources have in most cases neglected to talk about craftsmen and artists or to date them except rarely. Mamluk ceramics were distinguished by recording the signatures of their makers, and this research aims to shed light on one of the unknown potters called “Al-Siwan” based on his signature recorded on the bottom of an unpublished ceramic pot kept in the Gayer Anderson Museum / Al-Kiritliya House, Cairo under record number (164) .Keywords: Mamluk era, ceramics, potters, Al-Siwan, Ibn Al-Siwan Al-Shami.research importance:The research deals with a completely new topic that has not been studied before, which is the potter's "pink" through the ceramic production on which his name is recorded.Research Methodology: Descriptive - Analytical - Comparative - Documentary.

Keywords

• mamluk era; pottery; al-siwan; ibn al-siwan al-shami