Which City in Pakistan Is Famous for Blue Pottery?

Multan is the city in Pakistan famous for blue pottery. The craft has been worked in this southern Punjab city for centuries, and the city is known across Pakistan as the home of blue pottery just as it is known as the City of Saints. If you have seen a cobalt blue vase, a tea set painted with white flowers, or a shrine dome covered in blue and turquoise tiles, the chances are it was made in Multan.

The craft has a proper name. In Multan it is called Kashi, and the painting work on it is called Kashigari or Kashikari. People who grew up around it rarely say “blue pottery” at all.

Why Multan and not another city

Blue pottery did not begin in Pakistan, and there are two accounts of how it arrived. Both are widely stated, and they are not fully reconciled.

The earlier account ties it to the Arab conquest. When Muhammad Bin Qasim took Multan in 712 AD, he is said to have been accompanied by skilled Kashi artists who brought the glazed tile craft with them, placing it in Multan more than thirteen centuries ago.

The later account traces the technique to Persia and Central Asia, reaching the subcontinent along the trade routes that became known as the Silk Road and flourishing under the Mughals. On this telling the craft arrived centuries after 712 AD, and what the Arabs brought was an earlier, different tradition.

The name is argued over too. Some sources derive Kashi from Kashan, the Persian city long famous for glazed tile; others from Kashgar in western China, a stop on the trade corridors that carried the style east and south. Both routes run through Iran, so the two are less far apart than they sound.

We state both the arrival accounts and both name origins because both are what the sources say. Anyone claiming a single settled date for blue pottery in Multan is being more confident than the evidence allows.

What made it stay in Multan was a combination of things the city already had. There was clay and quartz within reach. There was a shrine-building tradition that wanted tile, and wanted it in blue. And there were families willing to keep a slow, difficult craft inside the household for generations, which is how Kashigari has survived in South Punjab while it faded elsewhere.

Multan is not the only place in Pakistan where blue pottery is made. The craft is also worked in Sindh, where Hala is the town most associated with it, and the Sindhi work has its own palette and its own motifs. There is a real material difference too: Sindhi blue pottery is made on a terracotta clay body, while Multan’s vessels are built on a harder quartz body. That is why a piece from Hala and a piece from Multan feel different in the hand even when the painting looks related. But when people ask which city in Pakistan is famous for blue pottery, the answer they are looking for is Multan.

Blue pottery and the blue stone work of Multan

A lot of people search for blue pottery and stones together, and that is not a confusion. In Multan the two are the same craft wearing different clothes.

The same Kashi technique that produces a bowl also produces flat tiles, and those tiles are what cover the domes, facades and interior panels of Multan’s shrines and mosques. Walk around the tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and you are looking at Kashigari at architectural scale: cobalt blue, turquoise and white laid into geometric panels and floral bands. The pots in a shop and the tiles on a dome come out of the same workshops, the same kilns and often the same hands.

So when someone asks which city in Pakistan is known for blue pottery and stones, Multan answers both halves of the question.

What Multani blue pottery is made of

The body is not ordinary red clay. It is built from a quartz-based mixture, which is what gives finished pieces their pale, hard, almost glassy surface rather than the earthy look of terracotta.

The colour comes from mineral pigments. Cobalt gives the deep blue that the craft is named for, and copper-based pigments give the turquoise that sits beside it. The painting is done by hand, freehand, before the piece is glazed and fired. There is no transfer, no decal and no printing involved. Two pieces from the same workshop will never be quite identical, which is the point.

Firing is done in kilns that in many workshops are still wood or gas fuelled. The pieces that survive the kiln come out with the glaze fused to the body. The ones that do not survive are broken up, and every working potter in Multan will tell you that losses are part of the arithmetic of the craft.

The designs, and what they mean

Three design families run through almost all Multani blue pottery.

• Floral. Vines, buds and open flowers, usually white against blue, often arranged to wrap a curved surface.
• Geometric. Repeating stars, lattices and interlaced bands, inherited from the Persian and Islamic tile tradition.
• Calligraphic. Islamic calligraphy, used far more on architectural tile work than on tableware.

The palette is deliberately narrow. Cobalt blue, turquoise and white carry nearly everything, and that restraint is a large part of why the work reads as Multani at a glance.

Where the craft stands today

Blue pottery in Multan is still made by hand, in workshops, by people who learned it from someone else in the same trade. It is also under pressure: fuel and raw material costs have risen, and the number of families still working at it is smaller than it was.

There has been institutional support. The Institute of Blue Pottery Development operates in Multan, and TEVTA, the provincial technical education authority, runs training that covers glazing, kiln firing and, increasingly, how to sell the work online. Between them, TEVTA’s courses and the Institute of Blue Pottery Development are the main formal route into the craft for anyone not born into a potting family. In 2025 Pakistan Post issued a commemorative stamp series on blue pottery to mark World Handicrafts Day, which tells you how the craft is regarded nationally even as the workshops themselves struggle.

What is made has changed with the market. The architectural tile work continues, but most workshops now also produce tea sets, dinner sets, vases, lamps and planters for ordinary homes.

Seeing it and buying it in Multan

The honest answer about buying blue pottery is that the craft rewards going closer to the source. Multan is where the kilns are, and a piece bought from a working factory is usually better and cheaper than the same piece after it has passed through three hands.

We are a Government of Punjab registered blue pottery workshop in Multan, Reg No. 2026012200243. The pieces are cast, painted and fired here, and the person who started it spent the first year doing the mould work and the casting himself because skilled labour was hard to find. You can see what that looked like on our about page.

If you want to browse what is being made right now, the full catalogue is in our shop, and the longer story of the craft is in our article on the legacy of Kashigari in Multan and Sindh. Blue pottery is one of several crafts the region is known for, and the wider picture is covered in our guide to the handicrafts of Pakistan.

Frequently asked questions

Which city in Pakistan is famous for blue pottery?

Multan, in southern Punjab. The craft is called Kashi or Kashigari locally and has been made in Multan for centuries.

Which place in Pakistan is famous for blue pottery?

The same answer: Multan. Searches for which place in Pakistan is famous for blue pottery, which city of Pakistan is known for blue pottery, and which place is famous for blue pottery all point to Multan in southern Punjab.

Is blue pottery made anywhere else in Pakistan?

Yes. Sindh has its own blue pottery tradition, with Hala the town most associated with it. Multan remains the city the craft is most identified with nationally.

What is Multani blue pottery called?

Kashi. The decorative painting on it is called Kashigari, sometimes written Kashikari.

Where did blue pottery come from?

Two accounts are commonly given. One says Kashi artists arrived with Muhammad Bin Qasim at the conquest of Multan in 712 AD. The other traces the technique to Persia and Central Asia along Silk Road routes, flourishing under the Mughals. Both agree the name links to Kashgar in western China and that the route ran through Iran.

Where does the name Kashi come from?

Two derivations are published. One is Kashan, the Persian city famous for glazed tile. The other is Kashgar in western China. Both lie on the trade route the craft travelled, and both pass through Iran.

Is Sindhi blue pottery the same as Multani blue pottery?

They are related but not identical. Sindhi blue pottery, centred on Hala, uses a terracotta clay body, while Multani vessels use a quartz body. The palettes and motifs also differ.

What is blue pottery made from?

A quartz-based body rather than ordinary clay, hand painted with cobalt and copper based mineral pigments, then glazed and kiln fired.

Why is blue pottery blue?

Because cobalt is the pigment the tradition was built on. Turquoise from copper pigments and white glaze complete a palette that has stayed deliberately narrow for centuries.