“Ceramic Wall Tile”, featuring Parrots and Floral Pattern
This beautifully decorated hand-painted polychrome ceramic wall tile was made in the famed pottery workshops in İznik, Turkey, just outside of Istanbul. It dates to the sixteenth century.
This İznik tile design features parrots in a rich emerald green with wings in shades of blue accented with bright red. They are surrounded by intricate blue, green, and red flowers, leaves, and stems, that wind their way around the scene. The tile is of a larger size, with an overall height and width of 11 ½“ by 11 ¼”, allowing more detailed designs.
The well-respected İznik workshops began their ceramic production in the fifteenth century. The artistic styles were originally designed after Chinese porcelain and consisted mostly of cobalt blues against white.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the workshops began taking commissions from the Ottoman court to produce ceramics. As a result, their production soared. After the patronage of the Ottoman Court, their style evolved. Their brushstrokes became looser, and they employed a wider variety of colors. In 1566 to 1567, green was first used in tile design. By the 1570s, green was a common addition to the İznik workshops’ repertoire of colors.
Today, the İznik workshops and the pottery they produced are remembered for their intricate floral designs and rich colors of turquoise and cobalt blue. The kilns produced a wide variety of ceramics including architectural tiles, bowls, pitchers, dishes, lamps, jars, and candlesticks.
They remained in operation up until the seventeenth century. Their tiles can still be seen on the walls of palaces, mosques, tombs, and libraries in Istanbul today, including the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, the tomb of Selim II, the mausoleum of Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Topkapı Palace complex.
“Ceramic Wall Tile” is housed within the Museum of Islamic Art within the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece.
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