June is ceramics month here on Makezine, and I’m reminded of a trip I took to Iran a few years back to visit my extended family. We traveled to Yazd, one of the oldest cities in the world, with history dating back 3,000 years. Yazd is known for its high-quality handicrafts, porcelain being one of them. We had occasion to tour Maybod Morvarid, one of the oldest makers of porcelain in Iran, outside Yazd in the city of Maybod (“morvarid” means “pearl” in Farsi). Their workshop is located behind their storefront, pictured above. I offer you Maybod Morvarid as a photo essay.
Porcelain is “a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 °C (2,192 °F) and 1,400 °C (2,552 °F).” Here are the big mixing vats at Morvarid and one of their kilns:
The clay is mixed, then poured into molds before it’s fired in the kiln. Here are a couple of the different molds they use:
The molds, of course, are in two parts, and when each piece is ready and the mold is pulled apart, it looks rough around the edges (like the picture at left below). The gentleman pictured at right then scrapes each piece by hand to make it smooth. Everything at Morvarid is done by hand.
The most fascinating part for me was when each piece is then hand-painted. There was a room in the workshop where the painters all worked. They started with stacks of finished, unpainted, and unglazed porcelain:
The artisans would then lovingly paint each piece by hand. It was amazing how fast they would paint and how beautiful the end result was.
The dishes that had lines on the perimeter were painted by this artisan, who put the dish on a wheel, put down his brush in one spot, and then spun the wheel to get the perfect line:
With stacks of dishes now bearing perfect rim lines, this next artisan would paint on embellishments.
At another work station, the artisan on the left details a different plate design while the artisan at the right then dips each plate in glaze.
There was certainly no shortage of eye candy at the Maybod Morvarid, and it was amazing to see these old-world artisans at work!
32 thoughts on “Traditional Iranian Porcelain of Maybod Morvarid”
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Cool!
Did the Artisans sign the piece in the last picture?
Not as far as I saw, Lurker. These were amazingly “production pieces” being churned out.
I’ve toured porcelain factories in Ireland, England and Turkey…. and now through your photographs, one in Iran. I find the process fascinating and have much respect for the artisans who create these works of art. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Kerri! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Let’s add another Iranian craft made with centripetal force: weapons-grade enriched uranium! Congratulations! It’s 1941, and you’re running an article on traditional German woodcrafts! How are you going to explain that one to your grandchildren?
I’m surprised it took so long for a troll to come out from under the bridge.
Give it a rest! This is about ART not WAR.
“Fear only two: God, and the man who has no fear of God.”
Who are you to urge death and destruction upon others?
Great article. What are those porcelain “cannonballs” in the photo of the kiln?
My guess is that they are weights to help keep things flat as the heat is applied. Kind of like pie weights in a crust. Just a guess though. :)
To be honest, hexmonkey, I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t remember (dug up these pics from 2007), but I do believe Chef Felisha’s guess might be right. If you look at the image below it with the molds, the ones on the right have the indentation that would perfectly fit the ball. I’ll try to dig up my notes and if I find out, I’ll be sure to post again. Thanks!
Not sure what the balls are for, however those “indents” look more like pour holes to me, where you would pour the slip into the molds…
Now I *gotta* dig up my notes over the weekend! :)
[…] that feature a new material. This month, it’s ceramics. The most recent article is a nice visit to an Iranian porcelain maker. Keep an eye on MAKE this month for more cool articles. They also ran a piece on 3D printing with […]
Goli,
Awesome article. I’m fascinated by Iran and your craft photo essay is amazing. I’m going to share this with my 7th graders when we study the Middle East next year. Again, excellent work!
Cheers!
Rick
Thank you so much Rick! I’m thrilled you enjoyed it, and I hope your students will too! I have years of pictures from there, so we should chat about ancient architectural design too.