Abdulla Kulol

Abdulla Kulol, also known as Kali Abdullo (“Bald Abdulla”), was born in Rishton, an old pottery centre of the Fergana Valley, into a family of potters. According to the National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan he lived from 1815 to 1900; some online articles and reference works give 1797 and 1872, so the dates should be treated as approximate.

He learned the craft from the brothers Abdu Jalol (Usto Jalil) and Abdu Jamil (Usto Kuri), celebrated Rishton masters credited with reviving the technique of chinni, glazed faience ware. According to tradition, they passed the recipe for such ware on to their pupil Abdulla.

The master worked in Rishton and Kokand and was regarded as the senior master, the aqsaqal, of the potters of the Fergana Valley. Tradition holds that the khan of Kokand and the emir of Bukhara both used ware made by Rishton masters.

In 1867–1873 Abdulla Kulol, together with his pupils and other Rishton masters, took part in decorating the main façade of the Urda, the palace of the Kokand ruler Khudoyar Khan, which now houses the Kokand Museum of Local Lore. The façade is faced with a mosaic of multicoloured glazed tiles, among them tiles with floral patterns and white Kufic inscriptions on a blue ground.

Examples of Abdulla Kulol’s ceramic vessels are kept in the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan and in the Kokand local history museums. The craft was continued by his descendants: his son Usto Komil and then his grandson, the well-known Rishton ceramist Ibrohim Komilov (Usto Ibrohim Komilov).