İbrik, the ewers of the Ottomans

Water, the one element that humans can’t do without, is a theme that runs through the traditions, customs, everyday life and beyond. Without drinking water, we would die and without eating we would also die. From leaves as plates to the most elaborate ceramic dinnerware and kitchenware, man has moved from a primitive but handy leaf through so many centuries and cultures to very sophisticated bone china.

Water is a very important in Muslim society. For instance to perform the prayer service one has to be clean and particularly one has to use flowing water since standing water is not considered pure. In mosque courtyards, one finds ablution fountains so that the men coming to worship can wash before entering the mosque to pray. Since Muslims are not necessarily required to go to a mosque for worship and can even pray at home, obtaining running water at a time when there were no water pipes meant drawing water from wells in buckets or obtaining water from water sellers. So in order to ensure that the water was actually flowing, it would be poured over one’s hands and feet. İbriks or ewers were designed for just that.

The ibrik is one of the most elegant of shapes produced in the Middle East. Its rounded body stands on a base and stretches into a slender neck and delicate lip and handle. The material was ceramic, porcelain, clay, metal and sometimes glass depending on needs and orders. This was not an exclusive form because it was produced mostly in the Middle East region.

According to information from a recent exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris, "Metalwares and arms produced between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries in the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires display a number of common characteristics. This is particularly true of Persian and Indian productions, which are often of comparable shape and decoration. However certain alloys or surface treatments only exist in one region, such as a type of zinc-based metal alloy inlaid with gold, silver or copper known as bidri and produced in India, and mercury-gilded copper alloy objects made in the Ottoman provinces. "One striking feature is common to the three empires: all witnessed the disappearance of copper alloy objects inlaid with precious metals (silver and gold) during the first decades of the sixteenth century. The silver and gold inlays on Persian and Indian portable objects were replaced by colored pastes, mainly black, standing out against the golden yellow or reddish brown metal background. The ornamental repertory displays vegetal and calligraphic, rather than figural compositions."

The ewer has an overall comprehensive design as mentioned above. The difference between the ewer produced in the eastern part of Muslim society and those in the west primarily centers around the materials used. In the east, such ewers were made with a zinc slip while the Seljuks and subsequently the Ottomans discovered how to use a copper slip. However there is a general prohibition in Islam against using metal ware with food so quite often porcelain would be used instead. Quite clearly such a prohibition was intended to deal with the issue of being poisoned by certain metals. The Ottoman sultans for instance ate from food mostly served on porcelain later on.

The items used among the Ottomans were of copper or copper alloy objects (such as brass) gilded using a mercury gilding technique. The copper surface was cleaned, first with acid then water. An amalgam of one part gold to six parts mercury was brushed onto the surface. The mercury evaporated away when the object was fired.

Such metal work is dated to between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. While they normally were quite plain, sometimes certain motifs that were popular at the time might be hammered around the collars of the ewers or the body of the ibrik. Later centuries would see ibriks worked in repousse or polychrome enamel.

Over the centuries the form of the ibriks shows a number of changes going from a rather squat shape to that of an elegant swan to that of an overdressed plump pigeon. It moved from being a useful item to being one to be coveted for its beauty. As more wealth entered the upper classes in Ottoman society, the more the emphasis on having highly prized and decorated trophies that symbolized these people’s rise in status was placed. The general population would use clay for water pots and never the ibrik.

A later version of the ceramic ibrik is from Çanakkale in Turkey, dating from the last half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. These usually have very plump bodies and long necks stylized to resemble bird heads and usually plaited handles. Flowers, rosettes, leaves and birds appear as relief on the bodies and front part of the neck. They have lids that are not removable but can be filled through a separate opening. Colors are brown glaze ceramic with overglaze painting in gold, orange and green. In Gönül Öney’s book on Çanakkale ceramics, the author decries these late period pieces. The earlier period pieces were much, much better.

Doesn’t this always happen? From simple to elegant to crass? A pity.

A special ceramic ewer
According to Ayse Erdoğdu’s description of a particular ceramic ibrik, "This ewer has a pyriform body attached to a curved spout by a cloud-shaped bridge. Vessels of this type imitate ewers used in the Middle East, and began to be produced in China in the fifteenth century. On either side of the body are foliate medallions, one containing two peach branches and the other two loquat branches. The ground is decorated with chrysanthemums, peonies,camellias and roses. Along the handle is a lingzhi (mythological fungus) pattern. Three drilled points on the base were added later as the owner’s mark."