The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

above: Tenth-century pincer decorated bowl
(Victoria & Albert Museum).
94 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo
This design has its origins in the Roman period but fragments
excavated at Fustat show that it was being manufactured there well
into the eleventh century. Examples of this design are still being
produced and these vessels can be bought very cheaply in the
bazaars of Cairo today.
It was also an international design and a similar shaped mouldblown
example can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It
dates from the ninth or tenth centuries and, according to
Contandini, the circular relief decoration shows possible Persian
influence. 26 Also in the same collection are two objects showing
pincer and tong decoration. One is an elegant green glass cup dating
from the ninth to eleventh centuries with a ring-shaped handle and
body decorated with pincered oval motifs under the rim. The other is
a shallow pincer decorated bowl with rosettes that became distorted
from their original circular form when the glass was reheated and
blown again in order to achieve its full circular shallow body. 27
A good example of tonged decoration is displayed on a bowl
dating from the ninth to tenth centuries in the Museum für
Islamische Kunst, Berlin. This decoration, with its circles and
S-shapes, demonstrates that Samarra style C influenced glassware as
well as rock crystals during this period.
The dating of many glass vessels has been made possible by
the systematic excavations at Fustat by George T. Scanlon and
Ralph-Pinder Wilson, as well as the discovery of the Serçe Limani
shipwreck (near Bodrum in Turkey) with a cargo of glass dating