All Islamic pottery is of earthenware fired at relatively low temperatures; neither the raw material nor the technology for making the high-fired stonewares and porcelains typical of China was available in the Near East. The hardness and strength of imported articles like the stoneware containers or simple dishes that arrived in quantity in the early ʿAbbasid period (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries) could thus not be reproduced, but only the surface appearance. Islamic potters thus generally found it profitable to concentrate on copying wares that were valued for their looks and “status,” rather than those valued for practical use