Comparative Study of Cameo Glass Works of Iran and Egypt in the 3rd-5th Centuries AH

As one of the most important arts of history, glassmaking has continued almost unchanged until the early centuries of Islam. In the 3rd to the 5th centuries of Hejira, glassmakers used new methods in making and decorating glass, and in this way, precious and limited glass works, such as cameo glass, which are made by blowing glass and layers، have been made. Putting colored glass melts on colorless glass is left over from the Islamic civilizations of Iran and Egypt. This type of glass, which is very important in terms of construction and decoration, on one hand shows the ability and mastery of the glassmakers of the Islamic world, and on the other hand, it shows the new techniques of glass making. Considering the fact that no independent research has been done in relation to this issue, the present research aims to study and examine cameo glass works in order to advance the knowledge of glassmaking. The aim of this research is to study some of the most important glass works of the Islamic era in these lands, to achieve and to identify their similarities and differences by focusing on the technical and visual examination. Therefore, the current research seeks to answer these questions; 1- How can cameo glass works be executed and what are the technical and visual characteristics of the above-mentioned works belonging to Iran and Egypt in the 3rd-5th centuries AH, including form and pattern? 2- What are the differences and similarities of the cameo glass works of Iran and Egypt in the 3rd-5th centuries AH?
The research method is descriptive-analytical with a comparative approach and the procedure of information collecting is library method. The results indicate that the cameo glass works were decorated with two methods of encased and marquetry. Encased method is used in the decoration of the cameo works of Iran and Egypt, with the advancement of the encasing technique, in order to remove more surface of the body of the vessel with an additional layer of colored glass to create an encased work with prominent linear patterns and effect. There are two colors and the placement method in which the body of the container is cut and taken out, and then the pattern is replaced in one piece with another color in the body that is exclusive to Iranian works. Also, the cameo works of Iran and Egypt are similar to each other in terms of form, pattern and color on one hand and they differ on the other hand. Each of the mentioned works has a unique form, which is decorated with animal, plant, inscription and geometrical motifs. Bird, lion, palmette and ivy motifs are common in the works of the two lands, and other animal and plant motifs as well as the legibility of Kufic writings in Egyptian works have distinguished the cameo glass of Iran and Egypt. The animal motifs in works from Iran include bird, lion and rabbit, while the animal motifs depicted on objects from Egypt represent bird, snake, lion, mountain goat and unidentifiable four-legged animal. Inscriptions on Iranian glassware are in Kufic script, yet illegible, while, as already mentioned, the inscriptions on objects from Egypt include words such as Allah, Barekat, and Daaem in a legible and comprehensible Kufic script. It is also noteworthy to mention that the geometric motifs, such as diamond and oval, are solely and individually represented on Egyptian glassware as ornamentation, while objects from Iran lack the above-mentioned shapes as primary motifs, which are observed as shapes merely drawn on as filling motifs on the body of the objects.
The color similarity of the cameo works of Iran and Egypt is in having a colorless glass melt in the lower layer and green, blue and brown colors in the outer layer, and other colors that are more often observed in Egyptian works. It is one of the other differences of these works.