Damascus: Makers of Flowerpots

Date: c.1890-1906

Arabic: shaqīfātī

The makers of flowerpots shared many of the techniques of the makers of earthenware bowls (shurba, pl. shurbāt). Flowerpots were designed for domestic use, particularly the cultivation of aromatic plants and flowers. Most artisans involved in this craft were located in the suburb of al-Salihiyya. See also: Maker of earthenware bowls (qiṣṣāʿ).

Citation: al-Qasimi, Muhammad Saʿid, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, and Khalil al-ʿAzm (al-Azem), Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, ed., Zafer al-Qasimi. (Le Monde d’Outre-Mer passé et présent, Deuxième série, Documents III, Paris and Le Haye: Mouton and Co., 1960), p. 257 (chapter 179).

See also: Milwright, Marcus. “Written Sources and the Study of Pottery in Ottoman Bilad al-Sham”, al-Rafidan 30 (2009): pp. 41-42.