Form and function of blue-and-white porcelain: Insights from Safavid miniatures and the National Museum of Iran ceramics

With the expansion of commercial relations between Iran and China during the Safavid period, the use of blue-and-white porcelain became highly popular in Iran. Moreover, certain earlier examples of blue-and-white porcelain, originating from the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368 CE), were also imported into Iran. The blue-and-white porcelain entered Persia at the major Persian Gulf ports of Hormuz and Gombroon (Bandar Abbas) and was further distributed from there throughout the Middle East, and far to Europe. The popularity of the porcelain with Safavid courtiers can be traced in the cultural materials of that day, including in miniatures. Some miniatures from the Timurid and Safavid periods show blue-and-white porcelain, along with gold and jeweled items, as a staple of Safavid royal tableware. The Wanli Emperor (the thirteenth ruler of the Ming dynasty; r. 1567–1572) and Safavid courtiers, including army commander Qarachaghāy, famously gave some of the most valuable items from their porcelain collections as gifts to the king of Safavid, Abbas I (1587–1629), who later endowed them to the mausoleum of his great ancestor Shaykh Safi al-din Ardabili. Most of these items are currently kept in the National Museum of Iran. Interestingly, Qarachaghāy can be seen in a Safavid miniature with a number of blue-and-white porcelain items. In addition to their popularity with the Safavid court, blue-and-white porcelain was also possibly used by the general public, as implied by contemporary miniatures. This article analyses several Safavid miniatures to explore the form and function of blue-and-white porcelain tableware used in ceremonies at the time and to trace Chinese as well as Persian influences in the decorations of the porcelain. It also compares, in terms of motifs and forms, the blue-and-white porcelain items in the National Museum of Iran collection to those in the studied miniatures to identify other examples of such porcelain in the museum.