Sky Blue: Color in Ceramics of the Islamic World

Shades of turquoise and deep blue sing out from the ceramics of the Islamic world, identifying them across borders. Afghan potter Abdul Matin Malekzadah, whose work is on view in the Turquoise Mountain exhibition, describes the blue-green glaze of his bowls as “the color of peace, the color of competence.” As demonstrated in Sky Blue, potters in many workshops have shared these distinctive mineral colors of cobalt blue and copper green, whether as pigments for painting and writing on the clay or as colorants to saturate glazes. The vessels on view span the ninth through the nineteenth century.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website