Arab potter. The name is also applied to a pottery workshop active in Syria and Egypt in the mid-15th century. All the products are underglaze-painted in blue and black. A rectangular panel composed of six tiles decorated with a lobed niche in the mosque of Ghars al-Din al-Tawrizi, Damascus (1423), is signed `amal ghaybi tawrizi (‘the work of Ghaybi of Tabriz’), suggesting that he was associated with Tabriz, a noted ceramic centre in north-west Iran. As the interior of the mosque and tomb is decorated with 1362 unsigned but related tiles, Ghaybi must have been the head of a workshop in Damascus. A fragment of a bowl with a typical Egyptian fabric (New York, Met., 1973.79.9) bears the name ghaybi al-shami (‘Ghaybi the Syrian’), suggesting that the potter later moved from Syria to Egypt. A square tile from a restoration of the mosque of Sayyida Nafisa in Cairo (Cairo, Mus. Islam. A.) is signed by Ibn Ghaybi al-Tawrizi, suggesting that Ghaybi’s son was active as a potter in Egypt. Another fragment (New York, Met., 1973.79.20) signed Ibn Ghaybi and countersigned Ghaybi in the foot indicates that Ghaybi became the name of a workshop.

• Ghaybi
  • Islamic art, §V, 4(ii)(d): Ceramics in Egypt and Syria, c 1250–c 1500: Underglaze-painted wares