Pottery

Pottery 

Pottery is the ceramic material which makes up pottery wares, of which major types include Earthenware , stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery (plural "potteries"). Pottery also refers to the art or craft of a potter or the manufacture of pottery.

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Pottery as one of the ancient arts of human being has been practiced since begging of their life.it was practiced to meet their daily needs and Potters have been forming vessels from clay bodies for millions of years.they may whatever they needed out of clay. Since containers and dishes made out of clay were not made using potter’s wheel and they were not fired in kiln they were very fragile.

Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a desired  shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln which removes all the water from the clay, which induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing. Prior to some shaping processes, clay must be prepared.

Pottery must be fired to a temperature high enough to mature the clay, meaning that the high temperature hardens the piece to enable it to hold water. An integral part of this firing is the addition of liquid glaze (it may be painted on or dipped in the glaze) to the surface of the unfired pot, which changes chemical composition and fuses to the surface of the fired pot. Then, the pottery is called vitreous, meaning it can hold water.

Nowadays artists use clay as a tool of expressing their emotions and reflect their creativity in their works.

Backgammon

BACKGAMMON is one of the oldest board games  for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice , and a player wins by removing all of their pieces from the board before their opponent. Backgammon is a member of the tables  family, one of the oldest classes of board games in the world.

In Persian, the game of backgammon is known as takht-e-nard. Its exact origin is unclear, but it is thought to have first been played in Mesopotamia and Sumer about 5,000 years ago. The modern game seems to have developed directly from the Persians. According to H.G. Raverty, in an article entitled "The Invention of Chess and Backgammon": "Ard-Shir Babakan, son of Babak of the Sassanian dynasty of Iran-Zamin or the ancient Persian empire, invented it. The game was also sometimes called Nard-i-Shir after him." (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, ca. 1886)

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The game remains popular today, and backgammon sets are more than just playing boards: the fine craftsmanship that goes into their construction makes them as enjoyable to look at as they are to play on.

Backgammon involves a combination of strategy and luck (from rolling dice). While the dice may determine the outcome of a single game, over a series of many games, the better player will accumulate the better record. Thus, records of matches between players are good indicators of relative skill. With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their checkers and anticipate possible counter-moves by the opponent. In variants  that originate from early 20th century New York, players may raise the stakes during the game. There is an established repertoire of common tactics and occurrences.

Persian miniature

Persian miniature

Persian miniature is a small painting on paper,Bone,Shell ,  stone etc.

A Persian miniature is a richly detailed miniature painting which depicts religious or mythological themes from the region of the Middle East now known as Iran. The art of miniature painting in Persia flourished from the 13th through the 16th centuries, and continues to this day, with several contemporary artists producing notable Persian miniatures. These delicate, lush paintings are typically visually stunning, with a level of detail which can only be achieved with a very fine hand and an extremely small brush.

The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall-painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are the best-known form of Persian painting in the West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or Turkish, museums. Miniature painting became a significant Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents.

The bright and pure coloring of the Persian miniature is one of its most striking features. Normally all the pigments used are mineral-based ones which keep their bright colors very well if kept in proper conditions, the main exception being silver, mostly used to depict water, which will oxidize to a rough-edged black over time.The conventions of Persian miniatures changed slowly; faces are normally youthful and seen in three-quarters view, with a plump rounded lower face better suited to portraying typical Central Asian or Chinese features than those of most Persians. Lighting is even, without shadows or chiaroscuro. Walls and other surfaces are shown either frontally, or as at (to modern eyes) an angle of about 45 degrees, often giving the modern viewer the unintended impression that a building is (say) hexagonal in plan. Buildings are often shown in complex views, mixing interior views through windows or "cutaways" with exterior views of other parts of a facade. Costumes and architecture are always those of the time.