Glazed Incense Burner in the Shape of a Lion - DC.1857 (LSO), Origin: Syria (Raqqa), Circa: 900 AD to 1200 AD, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Raqqa, Medium: Glazed, Earthenware, Condition: Repaired, This impressive lion comes from the Raqqa area of Syria, which is most famously associated with the Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid. The town became an important Islamic stronghold in 639 when 'Iy-- ibn Ghanm took the Christian city Kallinikos and renamed it ar-Raqqah. It became important as a religious centre; many associates of the Prophet Muhammad used to live there. It was much fought over during the transition between the Umayyad and Abbasid regimes, due to its position between Syria and Iraq and on the road network that ran throughout the Levantine area. Ar-Raqqah and ar-R?fiqah merged into one urban complex that became the official home for caliph Harun al-Rashid in 796. He was a cultured and enlightened man, under whose tolerant direction the populace achieved numerous literary and other cultural plaudits that made it the most important city in the area, even more so than Damascus. Subsequent caliphates were less successful, however, and it fell into decline in the late 9th century following civil unrest in the area. The city enjoyed a renaissance under the Ayyubids and Zangids in the 12th and 13th centuries, due primarily to artistic and industrial production, on the back of refined agricultural methods. Of all achievements, it is perhaps the blue “Raqqa ware” that was its crowning cultural triumph; it is believed to have risen to its greatest standard under the patronage of al- Malik al-Ashraf Musa (1201-1229), and there was some export of these delicate and extraordinarily decorative wares. This brief flowering was abruptly halted when the town was destroyed in the Mongol wars (c.1265) and the remaining inhabitants massacred in 1288. While some potters appear to have escaped to Damascus after the first sacking of the city, their subsequent work is far inferior to that of the original Euphrates kilns. For this reason, Raqqa ceramics are amongst the rarest and most valuable in the Islamic world.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East