Plate: Lustre-painted with a drawing of a lute player
Egypt - Fatimid period - 11 century A. D. Diam. - 18 cm.
Lustre - painting is one of the major contributions of Muslim potters to the art of ceramics, a technique unknown before .Lustre is an over-glaze technique in which the metalic compound pigment is applied to the glaze-fired hard surface.It is fixed in a second firing in a reducing kiln, and adheres to the surface in a film so transparent and thin that it produces a rainbow reflection.