Until the sixteenth century, the Middle East sat firmly at the center of the known world, and its connections with East and South Asia, Europe, and Africa made it the hub of a complex system of trade routes. One result of this far-reaching commercial traffic was that Middle Eastern artists and craftsmen had to compete with the best artisans in the world. Chinese ceramics especially spurred creativity. White Chinese porcelain had been imported into Iraq as early as the eighth century and was much in demand by the elite, which inspired Islamic potters to create imitations made of local materials for clients of more modest means. In the process, local potters invented a type of white pottery that could serve as a "blank canvas" for new types of decoration. One new method involved the use of metallic compounds, which, after firing, left gleaming designs in luster on the surface of the glaze.
Luster pottery proved popular over a long period. The large bowl depicting a ship bearing the arms of Portugal shows that lusterwares were still being produced by Muslim craftsmen in Spain in the late fifteenth century. The main center of manufacture was the southern port of Málaga, which remained under Muslim rule until 1487. Luster production continued in Christian-ruled Spain for many centuries, and from there it traveled to Italy, where artists used Islamic techniques to create wares in the Renaissance style.