Damascus: Makers of Earthenware Vessels

Date: c.1890-1906

Arabic: qiṣṣāʿ

This craft had been much in demand prior to the late nineteenth century. At the time of writing of the Dictionary of Damascene Crafts, the bowls made by the qiṣṣāʿ were no longer desired due to the fact that consumers were buying imported glazed wares. The primary market for bowls was for the makers of butter, bean stew (fūl), and hummus. See also: Maker of flowerpots (shaqīfātī); Mender of vessels (mukharris).

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. 355-56 (chapter 269).

See also: Milwright, Marcus. “Written Sources and the Study of Pottery in Ottoman Bilad al-Sham”, al-Rafidan 30 (2009): pp. 42-43.