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Discover the origins of a popular garden plant through artwork by ceramist Maryam Salour.

A popular flower

Described as flamboyant, yet graceful, astonishingly diverse while easy to grow, the Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) is a star amongst the trendy flowers for country-style gardens and bouquets alike. Many of our garden poppies have been cultivated from the Oriental poppy.

As its name suggests, the plant originates from outside the UK. The Oriental poppy is native to the mountainous regions of the Caucasus, northeastern Türkiye and northern Iran. Maryam Salour recalls with her sculpted, brilliant orange-red earthenware blossoms the poppies of Lar valley in Iran. Deeply rooted in the place of her birth, Salour chose the Oriental poppy to grasp the absorbing beauty of Iran’s nature.

Five ceramic sculptures of red slightly closed poppy heads with black detailing. — Five ceramic poppies, titled 'Valley of Lar', by Maryam Salour, Iran, Tehran, 1389 h.š. / CE 2010–2011. Museum reference V.2011.24 to V.2011.28. Credit: © Maryam Salour

I found myself exposed not just to a normal valley, but to a field of thousands of stunning fiery red poppies …
Maryam Salour

The artist's inspiration

A few hours’ drive northeast from Iran’s bustling capital Tehran one reaches the nature reserve of Lar valley. Enclosed into the steep rugged rocks of the Elburz Mountains, the valley is overlooked by the legendary snow-capped Damavand peak.

This landscape inspired Salour’s ceramic poppies. She remembers the moment when she reached the valley on a walking tour:

The mesmerizing scenery that was laid out so beautifully before me, very gradually and I must say unconsciously, lifted me up and flew me into it. I can’t tell how long it took me to become myself again, but when I came back from this astonishing journey, I realized that I wasn’t standing there looking at them from above anymore, but my soul had become one of them and was amongst them; I had become a poppy.
Maryam Salour

Making the poppies

In 2006, Salour was planning her artworks for the 8th Ceramic and Glass Biennial of Iran. She could not think of anything more fascinating than to re-create the valley of poppies that she had seen on her hiking trip, and to share some of this extraordinary experience with her audiences.

But how to recall the poppies of Lar?

The inside of a red and black poppy made from glazed ceramic. — Inner of a ceramic poppy. Museum reference V.2011.27. Credit: © Maryam Salour

Working on the potter’s wheel, Salour formed the body of the poppies out of a lump of white clay before she cut the upper part freely in petals.

None of her poppies resembles another. With her bright orange-red glazes, she evoked the poppies as they bloom and fade. Some are perfectly round and seem to have just unfolded from a bud. Others are of a darker colour and their petals have ragged edges.

Salour layered different glazes inside the poppies. The large black stains recall the characteristic blotches at the bottom of the Oriental poppy.

Contemporary Iranian art

Flowers are common motifs in Iranian art to decorate the surface of objects. Usually embedded in foliage they appear in many different materials. They might be carved in wood and stone, woven into textiles, or painted onto ceramic tiles.

When Salour made her poppies, she transformed a traditionally two-dimensional motif into sculptures. Modelling elements of surface decoration in the round is a feature of contemporary Iranian art.