Iranian Art's Influence on Chinese Ceramics, with the Emphasis on the Islamic Era

Abstract

Iran and China as two great and ancient civilizations, one located in the East Asia and the other in the West Asia, have historically had broad and longstanding ties. These two countries were connected through the famous overland Silk Road before the advent of Islam and after that through seaways, and their relationships in three significant areas of business, religion and politics can be studied. These relationships and the commercial ties between two countries have had a profound impression on their arts in the history. The study of these interactions reflects the influence of China's art on Iran, but impacts of Iranian culture and art on China have not been well expressed or even have been ignored. These influences in both pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Iran are visible, but it must be said that the influence is more pronounced in the Islamic era and more documents and more works from this period have survived. In this article, using a historical-analytical method, we try to study the quality of the influence of Iranian art on Chinese art through the study of ancient historical resources and observation of the remaining art pieces from two civilizations of Iran and China. According to the results we can say that the Iranian art has influenced china's art, especially its pottery in the different periods. By studying Chinese pottery, we can see Iranian art’s effects in three aspects of: form, glazing techniques and motifs.