ĘZNĘK TILES AND CERAMICS
Under the Ottomans the city flourished becoming the principal center of a ceramics
industry which was, from the 15th to the 17th century, to supply the ornamental tiles
needed to decorate some of the most sublime works of imperial Ottoman architecture.
Ęznik ceramics can be divided into two principle groups: white paste and red paste. The latter can be divided into three subgroups-sgraffito, slip, and so-called "Miletos ware"-according to their distinctive techniques and styles. In the 14th and 15th centuries, all three techniques were employed in the manufacture of articles for everyday wares. The most brilliant examples of the last group, having blue-and-white decorations on a white slip, were produced during the 15th century.
Towards the end of the 15th century, a group of iznik ceramics having a white paste and a fine, smooth, and transparent glaze makes an appearance. At the outset, the Ottoman potters produced wares decorated with delicate arabesques of sinuous branches in bloom, rumis, and patmettes executed in blue-and-white. In such works the influence of 14th and 15th-century Chinese porcelains is noticeable. A group of blue-and-white ceramics decorated with delicate spirals were given the name "Golden Horn ware" on the basis of the testimony of Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname, a 17th-century travelogue.
In the late 1530's iznik potters began producing a group of ceramics whose blue-and-white palette had been augmented with the addition of a pale turquoise as well as a manganese purpose and a sage green. Also encountered from this period are dishes and bowls in the saz style decorated with large, rounded floral motifs with scaled surfaces resembling either a pomegranate or an artichoke.
Around the middle of the 16th century, the lznik palette of colors was increased with the addition of green, turquoise, and black along with red. The last, a coral-red forming a slightly raised surface beneath the clear glaze, became the most distinctive feature of 16th century iznik ceramics. The decorations are noteworthy for the naturalistic style of their rendition: the most frequently-appearing motifs are flowers such as roses, tulips, carnations, and hyacinths. Hatayi blossoms and rosettes are also frequent.
In addition to pottery, tiles were also an important product of the lznik ateliers. These tiles, manufactured according to designs prepared by the court workshops, were ordered for the decoration of the empire's mosques, tombs, medresses, baths, palaces, hospices, libraries, and kiosks.
After reaching a high point in the late 16th century, the iznik tile industry apparently went into a decline: the lovely coral red turned steadily browner and defects in glazes become more frequent. The economic troubles besetting the empire, longer and longer hiatuses between the orders placed by the court, and an increase in the volume of imported Chinese porcelains hastened the erosion in quality with the result that the pottery and tile-making industry of iznik withered away.
