Mina'i Ware: Persian Enamel Pottery Before the Mongol Invasion
What Mina'i Ware Is and Where It Came From
Mina'i ware is a type of Persian pottery that first appeared in Kashan, Iran, right before the Mongol invasion hit Persia and Mesopotamia in 1219. After that, production basically stopped. At the time, it was considered one of the most refined and high-end types of Islamic ceramic art from the eastern regions.
The pottery was made from a white or pale fritware base, also known as stonepaste. This material was ideal for detailed painting, which is what made mina'i pieces so distinct. These weren’t just glazed ceramics. They were carefully decorated with multiple colors and often included human figures and scenes.
The Innovation of Overglaze Enamels
What set mina'i ware apart was its use of overglaze enamel. That means the artists painted on top of a glazed ceramic that had already gone through a first firing. Once the decoration was added, it was fired again at a lower heat. This second firing locked in the colors without burning them away.
The term "mina'i" means "enamelled" in Persian. It wasn’t used back then, though. The technique was actually called "haft-rang," or "seven colors," by a writer named Abu al-Qasim Kasani. He had a background in pottery and was one of the few near-contemporary sources who described the method.
This use of overglaze painting eventually became the norm in places like Europe and China, especially for high-quality porcelain. It's not clear if those later traditions were directly influenced by Persian mina'i ware, but the technique served the same purpose: it gave artists a wider range of colors to work with.
Most glazes and pigments can’t survive the high temperatures of the first firing, which reaches around 950°C. Overglazing allowed artists to use softer, more varied tones by painting after that initial glaze had already hardened.
Blending Techniques: Overglaze and Underglaze Together
Around 1200, Persian potters started using underglaze decoration as well. So in some mina'i pieces, you’ll find both underglaze and overglaze work combined. Sometimes, underglaze is also called inglaze. This layering created a richer, more complex look. It also pushed the limits of what could be done with ceramics at the time.
The time window for this pottery is narrow. Most surviving pieces are from between the late 1100s and the early 1200s. A few have inscribed dates, starting in the 1170s and stopping in 1219, right when the Mongols swept through. Many of the pieces that show gold were probably made around or just after 1200.
What Was Painted and Why It Matters
Most of the designs on mina'i ware are believed to reflect the styles of Persian manuscript painting and mural art from that time. The problem is, almost none of those original books or wall paintings survived the Mongol invasion. So what we see on mina'i pottery is basically the only record we have of that early Persian painting style.
The figures, clothes, and settings on these ceramics give us a clear view of how people saw themselves and their world in the 12th and 13th centuries. The designs are detailed and often full of narrative scenes, showing people, animals, and sometimes mythological subjects.
Forms, Shapes, and Where It Was Made
Most mina'i ceramics are small, personal items like bowls, cups, and pouring vessels. Ewers, jugs, and jars were common. A few pieces were very large, but those are rare. Some vessels are shaped like what we now call begging bowls, which might suggest a spiritual or religious use, or it could just reflect a style that was popular at the time.
Tiles are even rarer. The ones we do have might have been made to act as centerpieces or single decorative elements surrounded by other materials. They probably weren’t meant to be used in repeating patterns. In Konya, Turkey, archaeologists found mina'i tiles still in place at a site, which suggests they may have been made locally by traveling Persian artisans.
Even though Kashan was the main center for mina'i production, broken pieces have been found all over urban sites in Iran and Central Asia from that period. That shows how widespread the pottery was, even if it wasn’t made everywhere. The best guess is that almost all the production happened in Kashan, but the ware was traded widely.
Why Mina'i Ware Still Matters
Mina'i pottery was short-lived, but it left a huge mark. It introduced a method of decorating ceramics that gave artists more freedom and more color to work with. It also captured the art style of a time and place that would soon be transformed forever by invasion and war. The pieces that survived are more than just pretty objects. They’re windows into a vanished world, painted in fine detail and frozen in clay.
Color, Technique, and Decorative Style
Mina’i ware often used black and cobalt blue as underglaze colors. On top of that, artists added more colors with overglaze painting. While white glaze was common, some pieces used a turquoise glaze instead, which gave the surface a striking base for the painted designs. Most of these decorations had black outlines, drawn with fine, careful strokes. In later pieces, artists added gilding too, sometimes highlighting raised parts of the pottery, likely built up using a slip.
Some rare examples even combined both luster and mina’i decoration in different sections of the same item. That kind of layering showed how far the craft had come, mixing methods to make each piece more complex and visually rich.
Dates and Signed Pieces
Only a few mina’i ceramics were signed and dated. Far fewer than what we see with lusterware. According to records, there are ten dated mina’i pieces by three different potters, all made between 1178 and 1219. By comparison, over ninety dated lusterware pieces from the same general time survive. These were made by around six potters from 1178 to 1226. After that, there’s a sudden stop. No dated ceramics show up again until 1261, which lines up with the Mongol invasion and the disruption that followed. That long gap in production speaks to the lasting damage of those events.
One name stands out from this period. Abū Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd, a well-known potter from Kashan, signed more than a dozen works. His earliest dated piece is a mina’i bowl from 1187, but most of his signed ceramics are lusterware, with the latest date being 1219. His workshop clearly produced both styles, showing that the same space and tools could be used for either method, depending on the design and materials.
Changes During the Ilkhanate
After the Mongol conquest, during the Ilkhanate period, overglaze painting didn't disappear, but it changed. A new style came into use, called lajvardina ware. These pieces moved away from figures and instead focused on repeating patterns. They used a dark underglaze blue along with gold leaf, which was fixed in place during a second firing. The name lajvardina comes from the word for lapis lazuli, though artists still used cobalt blue most of the time.
Restoration and Forgery Issues
Studying mina’i ceramics today isn’t simple. Many pieces have been heavily restored or even altered. This started when collectors in the West began showing serious interest in them in the late 1800s. Dealers added paint and changed surfaces to make items look more valuable. Because of this, it’s hard to know which parts of certain pieces are original. For example, one bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, part of the Robert Lehman collection, has been so heavily restored that parts of the original inscription are lost. Most of the interior was overpainted, making it hard to tell what was authentic.
Figures, Themes, and Cultural Meaning
While a few pieces stick to abstract shapes or geometric designs, most mina’i ware shows scenes with people. These scenes usually include several small human figures. One common image shows a ruler sitting on a throne with attendants on each side. Other popular scenes feature horseback riders, often hunting or holding falcons. These were the types of activities linked with nobility and courtly life.
But the rulers, lovers, and hunters shown on these ceramics likely weren’t real people. These characters probably weren’t meant to depict actual figures or couples. The same kinds of scenes show up in other forms of art from the time, like book illustrations and textiles. It’s hard to know how closely they reflected the real lives of the people who owned these bowls and plates. More likely, they were about aspiration. Middle-class buyers might have used these images to feel a closer connection to the ideals of wealth, power, or romance.
Symbolic Creatures and Literary Themes
In mina’i ceramics, images of peacocks often appear beside royal figures. Along the rims of flat plates and wide dishes, you can also spot the Islamic version of the sphinx. These half-human, half-lion figures add a mythical touch to the scenes. Many pieces draw from Persian literary works, with references that would’ve been easy to recognize at the time. The outer sides of raised bowls are usually plain in terms of imagery, but it’s common to find text wrapped around the surface. These inscriptions often come from famous Persian poetry, likely borrowed from anthologies that potters had access to in their workshops.
One standout piece is a shallow bowl held in the Freer Gallery of Art. It was rebuilt from fragments and is known for its massive size - nearly 48 centimeters across. That makes it the largest recorded example of a plate made using the mina’i method. The bowl is packed with small human figures, all drawn in the usual scale. They appear in the middle of a battle scene. It likely represents a real event where an Assassin stronghold was attacked by a lesser-known Iranian ruler. Inscriptions beside eight key figures on the winning side identify them by name. They all have Turkish names. The design also includes a siege engine and an elephant, adding realism and detail. This piece dates back to the early 1200s.
The scene might have been copied from a mural or some other form of visual storytelling. Another major piece in the same museum, a decorated beaker, offers a full illustration of a tale from the Shahnameh, a cornerstone of Persian literature. The story is told through multiple panels that wrap around the beaker in three bands, making it a rare and complete example of narrative art in ceramic form.
Political Changes and Who Really Made What
Mina’i pottery started during a time when Persia was under the control of the Seljuk Empire in name, but ruled day-to-day by the Khwarazmian dynasty. These rulers, also Turkic, originally served the Seljuks but broke away in 1190. They stayed in power until the Mongols invaded in 1219. Even though scholars often call these pieces "Seljuk," some of the best-known examples were actually made under Khwarazmian rule after the Seljuk grip had faded.
From around 1150, Persian ceramics entered a new stage. Fritware and the glazes used on it got better. This allowed potters to make thinner walls and give their pieces some of the soft glow found in Chinese porcelain, which was being imported at the time and seen as high-end competition. This newer "white ware" body became the base for a wide range of designs. Mina’i ware stood out for its color and detail, but lustreware became the most refined and costly of all. Lustreware also needed a second light firing. The oldest Persian lustre piece with a known date was made in 1179.
Gold was the main color in lustre painting. That’s not the same as the gold leaf often used in mina’i ceramics, which came later. The two techniques were separate in process and appearance.
Strength and Fragility of the Materials
This new type of white fritware wasn’t as strong as real porcelain. Even though mina’i and lustreware pieces were praised for how light and delicate they were, they were also fragile. These were luxury items. And since Islamic burial customs didn’t include grave goods, most of what survives today was either broken and tossed or buried to hide it. Some finds were likely hidden on purpose, maybe during times of war or looting. But not all surviving pieces are authentic. Fakes exist, and experts now question the condition of any mina’i item that appears fully intact.
Researchers have discovered that some pieces, even in top museums, were made by combining unrelated fragments. A large dish at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, for instance, was found to be built from various parts; some likely medieval, others not; and repainted to match the rest. The final object looks convincing, but it's mostly reconstructed.
Pottery as a Metal Alternative
Despite their luxurious look, these ceramic wares may have been a cheaper stand-in for gold and silver vessels. By the early 1100s, the Seljuk economy was under pressure, and silver was getting hard to find. Lustreware, in particular, gave off the appearance of gold, offering a substitute that still looked rich but cost less to produce.
Lustre painting wasn’t new. It had already been used for centuries in Arabic-speaking regions. But it was unfamiliar to Persia. Historians link its spread there to artisans fleeing Fustat in Egypt after the collapse of the Fatimid state around 1160. The shapes of Persian lustre vessels were made using local forms, so the newcomers probably worked mainly as decorators rather than potters. The painting styles in Persian lustreware clearly connect to older Arabic examples. That link doesn’t exist with mina’i ware, which seems to have borrowed more from Persian manuscript art and court illustration.
Most of the known lustreware was made in Kashan, a city that became central to this type of ceramic work. That isn’t as certain for mina’i ware, though Kashan likely played a major role in that too.
Spread of the Mina’i Style
Eventually, the mina’i look made its way to other parts of the Seljuk world, especially Syria. But the Syrian potters didn’t know how to do the overglaze firing process properly. So they copied the style using underglaze instead. The true overglaze technique remained a secret. It was probably kept within a few families in Kashan. Later on, a new form of enamel work called mīnākārī developed in Persia. Unlike mina’i ware, this newer style was painted on metal, not ceramics, and it’s still practiced today.
