On the 21 of November Polina Lyubimova delivered the lecture “The Art of Transformations. The Iranian Lustre Ceramics”. The event was held with the assistance of Ibn Sina Foundation.
Being a specialist on art, particularly the art of Islamic countries, Polina Lyubimova noted that Iran transormated lustre ceramics into a unique phenomenon. This tradition has been deeply rooted in Iran during centuries, and it became one of the symbols of Iranian fine arts.
The meaning of the word “lustre”in French is “gloss”, “shine”: thus, lustre ceramics shines, filling everything with mystical light. Lustre ceramics has a special value in the Muslim world because the issue of gloss and shine mentioned in the Holy Quran. For example, the holy verse says: “Allah is the Light of the heaven and the earth”. The shine of a lustre has its innate religious philosophy and symbolises the Paradise promised to believers.
During her lecture Polina Lyubimova presented a historical perspective of the development of the tradition of producing lustre ceramics. She demonstrated famous samples of lustre ceramics of the epoch of the Egyptian Fatimids, the Iranian Seljukids and as well as Spanish and Mauritanian samples. Ms. Lyubimova also showed some samples of the contemporary lustre ceramics to the guests of the event.
