Mina’i Ware

Dr Richard Piran McClary is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of York. He received his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. He has lectured extensively on a range of subjects related to medieval Islamic art and architecture, and has conducted fieldwork in India, Iran, Turkey, Central Asia and across the Middle East. He is a specialist in the architecture and ceramics of the medieval Iranian world, and the history of the Islamic art market. He has published three monographs; Mina’i Ware: A Reassessment and Comprehensive Study of Iranian Polychrome Overglaze Wares through Sherds (EUP, 2024), Medieval Monuments of Central Asia. Qarakhanid Architecture of the 11th and 12th Centuries (EUP, 2020), and Rum Seljuq Architecture 1170-1220. The Patronage of Sultans (EUP, 2017). He has edited Stucco in the Islamic World: Studies of Architectural Ornament from Spain to India (EUP, 2025), and co-edited a volume with Andrew Peacock, entitled Turkish History and Culture in India. Identity, Art and Transregional Connections (Brill, 2020). He has also published articles in numerous journals, including: Muqarnas, Iran, Persica, Anatolian Studies, the International Journal of Islamic Architecture, and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He has served as a trustee and the Research Director for the British Institute of Persian Studies, and is managing editor of the Journal of Islamic Art and Architecture.

• List of FiguresList of TablesSeries Editor's ForewordAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationINTRODUCTION Overview and Methodological Approaches to Mina’i Ware CHAPTER 1 Methods and Materials: The Sources of Materials and the Production Processes of Mina’i WareCHAPTER 2 A Taxonomic Approach to Mina’i Ware: A System of ClassificationCHAPTER 3 Form: The Shapes and Types of Mina’i Ware Vessels and TilesCHAPTER 4 Meanings, Motifs and Messages: The Decoration, Iconography and Epigraphy of Mina’i WareCHAPTER 5 The Context, Role and Significance of Mina’i Wares in Persian Miniature PaintingCHAPTER 6 Trade and Transportation: The Diffusion of Mina’i Ware in the Medieval PeriodCHAPTER 7 Dealers, Collectors and Curators: The Rise in Fascination with Mina’i Ware in the Early Twentieth CenturyCHAPTER 8 Reconstruction and Deconstruction: Changes Made to Mina’i Ware Vessels from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Centuries CONCLUSION From Mina'i to LajvardinaBibliographyIndex

This is the first and most welcome monograph on the so-called mina’i wares. Its originality lies on the corpus, based here on sherds instead of on often unreliable complete vessels. Richard McClary’s erudite approach includes an attempt to classify these wares according to different styles. A valiant tour de force.