The Islamic potters left behind them a unique legacy, providing inspiration and technical knowledge for the developmant of decorated glazed ceramics throughout Europe. They invented "blue-and-white" centuries before this colour scheme became the trade mark of Chinese export porcelain. They also developed lustre - "That extraordinary luxurious metallic sheen, which rivals precious metals in its effects, all but turning objects of clay to gold".
Islamic Ceramics illustrates 48 examples to span a geographical area from Spain to Iran during the ninth to eighteenth centuries. The majority were previously in the collections of Sir Alan Barlow or Gerard Reitlinger, two of the Ashmolean's generous benefactors.