Continuing a Middle Eastern Tradition

Since the early 19th century, in an unassuming souk in Syria, a family of potters has been turning out gracefully constructed planters, bowls and water jugs, continuing a Middle Eastern art form that began seven thousand years ago.

In recent years, western visitors to the Middle East have become fans and collectors of this ancient craft and enabled this fine work to proliferate into the United States. A legend of sorts in the underground art and antiquities community, the Jawhar family still forms their craft in the same spot it has been since 1819.
“It’s very easy for me,” says Hasna Jawhar, speaking of her work while sitting in front of her finished pieces. “It’s as if I did this in an another life.”
The work of the Jawhar family has been passed from generation to generation combining the Sumerian and Islamic elements, drawing on traditions rooted in Persia, Turkey, the Sumerians and Phoenicians going back to medieval times.

In 1819, a branch of the Jawhar family was commissioned by the Syrian rulers to repair 14th century jugs ruined in the Crusades. As the story unfolds, the money for the project never materialized, but the Jawhar received incredible recognition for their restoration and stayed on at their modest shop. Three years later, the entire family began to churn out bowls and urns.

“I saw some earlier pieces and thought they are as beautiful today as they were 200 years ago,” Hasna said. “Some of the detail is magnificent and you know instantly they are from our family’s hands.”

Pottery may be fragile but it is also durable. “Our designs have lasted due to a rare double glazing process that is utilized primarily in the Middle East,” explains Hasna.

This process meant that the longevity of the Jawhar’s pottery designs have endured and prospered for nearly three centuries.

“The best part is that the older pieces are still in remarkable condition and the new ones are now gracing the homes and gardens of many non-Middle Eastern families. It’s really wonderful that they are not confined to Syria.”

 

THE HISTORY OF SUMERIAN POTTERY

Like that of the caves at Lascaux, men have had the need to create their stories in an artistic format. The Sumerians, not lost through time, also created. Through writings, poetry, monumental architecture, and pottery, a narrative to a life rich in history was unearthed. Discovered were a people, who were prolific poets, storytellers, and inventors (of the pottery wheel)—certainly the foundation where later Renaissance men would be praised for their undertakings.
Like the writings in a journal, everyday life unfolded through clay. Typically, Sumerian-recorded history came through cuneiform inscriptions (the earliest known writings), reliefs, small statues and pottery. However, through the passing of time and the civilization’s progression, stories came to light on thousands of pieces.

Jugs, bowls and vases were used for daily life and this need grew as the population grew. Thousands of ancient pieces have been discovered over many years through archaeology and natural unearthing. Archaeologists describe it as simple yet grand.

Pottery, no longer just a decorative or utilitarian object, depicted allegories to which stories and events occurred. With its immediacy, literally coming from the earth in an almost finished medium, Sumerians were able to illustrate a complicated and anguished life in one of the simplest forms. Abundant in supply economically speaking, clay made creating under the most difficult circumstances doable. Without the constraints of exorbitant costs, prolific artisans were able to create copious amounts of pottery that today have been excavated to reveal pictorials of a once opulent civilization.

As this civilization grew and advanced, wars changed the landscape and of a once gentle society. These wars were seen as those fought between gods however, slavery eventually ensued creating a division amongst the people. Slavery was justified simply as gods giving victory over an inferior people. Greed eventually overtook as ambitious kings moved into the territory from distant lands. These accounts came through poetic writings and imagery on vessels illustrating this oppressed society. It’s these situations where great art and poetry arose.

 

Middle Bronze Age in the Levant

Broadly the same traits are found in ceramic assemblages throughout the entire Levant in the Middle Bronze I period, indicating that the material culture in both Syria and Palestine was remarkably homogeneous, in this respect at least. Most characteristic in regard to pottery shapes is the high frequency of carination, particularly in flat-based bowls and goblets. Flat or overhanging (“lipped”) rims - often grooved on top - are typical for larger open or slightly restricted vessels, whilst jugs tend to have tall necks, again with grooved rims. Larger vessels are frequently decorated with horizontal or undulating comb-incised designs (or a combination of the two) on their shoulder or upper body.

Syro-Cilician Painted Ware represents a common and widespread pottery type in the the areas both around and south of Aleppo, in the Amuq Plain and extending up into Cilicia. It consists of sharply carinated bowls, trefoil-mouthed jugs and footed bowls whose shoulders and upper bodies are decorated with painted animal, plant and geometric motives bordered by horizontal bands divided into metopes.

Farther south, Ebla and its environs also produce another pottery type known as Common Painted Ware, marked out by painted horizontal bands and cross-hatched triangles on globular juglets and trefoil-mouthed pitchers with twisted handles.

These water jugs are still in use today as they keep water extremely cold, without ice. As custom dictates, water is poured directly from the jug into the mouth without the use of cup or glass. The recipient’s lips or mouth never touch the jug.

 

 

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