Blue-and-white in Ardabil - Beautiful Iran 9

The blue-and-white porcelains in Ardabil

We stayed at a hotel in Sareyn 200 km east of Tabriz. Sareyn, meaning “spring’s outlet” in Persian, is actually famous for its hot springs on the foot of an inactive volcano, Mount Sabalan (4,811 m). Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to soak in the spring bath. Zoroaster reputedly wrote the Avesta near there. He must have had lots of time for bathing. 

The next morning, on April 23, we visited Ardabil in northwestern Iran. This town sits on the highland of 1,263 m above sea-level. The name is said to mean “holy place” in Zoroastrianism.The Muslim conquered the Sassanid Empire (224-651), and the Mongol invasions destroyed the Khwarezemian Empire (1077-1256). Each time Ardabil was ruined but reconstructed. There appeared a mysterious figure of Sufi, Sheikh Safi al-Din (1252-1334). His successor, Shah Ismail founded the Safavid Dynasty and declared Shi’a Islam the state religion. 

Our tour destination was the sanctuary and mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din, which was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. Just before entering the site, I saw a pair of black triangle flags in the street. The flags indicated a small altar built into the external wall. Local people stopped, lit candles, and prayed toward the altar.

The altar in the street 

Our tour guide Mr. Musa explained us, “They write their wishes on papers and put them by the altar. If their wishes are fulfilled, they return to offer their thanks.” 

We entered the gate, walked along an alley in the long and narrow garden, and got out in the courtyard. There was a domed tall cylindrical tower decorated with blue mosaic tiles. That was the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din. The walls of the buildings surrounding the courtyard were decorated with various kinds of mosaic arabesque. Very impressive blue!

 The courtyard of the mausoleum  

The mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din

However, I was more impressed by a vast collection of Chinese porcelain exhibited in the Porcelain House of the site.  It is said that they were collected by Shah Abbas I (1571-1629) of the Safavid and used for the sanctuary’s ceremonies. 

 I am an art lover, especially fond of ceramic art. Porcelain was invented in the Han Dynasty of ancient China. The Chinese discovered the clay called “Kaolin” that is full of silicate mineral, and fired it in a kiln at the high temperature of 1,300 ℃. That was the birth of porcelain, which the westerners call “Chinaware” or “fine China.” No other nations except Japan and Korea could not reproduce it by the 18th century. Therefore, porcelain was Chinese popular export from the 16th to 20th century.

The Porcelain House

In the exhibition I found many blue-and-white porcelains (simply “blue-and-white”). They appeared hard, white, and translucent with vivid blue paintings. According to the explanation, they were made in Jingdezhen, northeastern Jiangxi province in the 17th century. 

This “blue” is glazed with a blue pigment of cobalt oxide. Interestingly, it was called “Islamic blue” because cobalt oxide was exported from Iran to China by the Muslim traders.

Blue-and-white 

“Mr. Blue & White” Takatoshi Misugi, a Japanese scholar of ceramics, says, “I think [the technique of] blue-and-white originated in Persia. There were blue-and-white ceramics in Persia in the 9th or 10th century. But they were pottery, not porcelain fired at 1,300 ℃ like in China.” 

In Iran, there appeared the ceramics called “lajvardina” in the Ilkhanid period in the 13th century. Lajvardina is the gilded blue grazed pottery. The word “lajvard” means blue pigment in Persian, actually indicating “lapis lazuli.” Obviously, lapis lazuli was a precious gem, too expensive to be used as pigment for ceramics. Potters substituted cobalt blue for lapis lazuli. The lajvardina technique seems to have been handed over to tile producers in Central Asia as well as in Iran. Today we can see beautiful buildings covered with ultramarine or turquoise blue tiles in Iran, Uzbekistan and other Islamic countries.

Let us return to the Porcelain House. I found plain-colored porcelains, too, in the exhibition. They were “celadon,” from blue-green or olive-green to yellow, made in China in the same century. The term celadon was coined by Europeans for the pale jade-green glaze, which was one of the most favorite colors for the Chinese. 

Celadon

Chinese people originally preferred white porcelain and celadon to blue-and-white. In fact, the blue-and-white was in mass production for export, especially to the Islamic countries.

However, there is a crucial question: how were these fragile ceramics transported from Jingdezhen in China to Ardabil? Were they carried by caravans on the Silk Road? 

Tsugio Mikami (1907-87), a Japanese orientalist and archaeologist, proposed the “Ceramic Road” as seaborne trade comparing to the Silk Road as land trade. The “Ceramic Road” is also called the “Silk Road on the sea.” The main route started at Canton (Guangzhou) in China, passed through Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and then reached Alexandria.

The blue-and-white made in China was shipped from Canton by the Muslim traders. The ship made its way toward the Persian Gulf and arrived in Hormoz Island. There was such a port city as Minab in the ancient times or Bandar Abbas that was established in the 17th century by Shah Abbas I. From the port the heavy boxes containing fragile porcelains were loaded on camels and were carried by caravans through the Royal Road to Ardabil. What a tough journey of 2,000 km it was, from the mouth of the Persian Gulf to the highland of some 1,300 m above sea-level! 

Beautiful mosaic

After looking around inside, we returned to the gate. There was a large crowd of school girls. A few girls noticed us, and then a crowd gathered around us. They asked one question and another in English: “Where are you from?” “Are you Chinese? Oh, Japanese!” “Woud you please write your name here?” (holding out a notebook) ... I didn’t understand what happened, but obviously, they welcomed us. “Welcome to Iran!” “Welcome to Ardabil!” they shouted. We ran away to our tour bus, waving hands to our pretty friends.