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Tile art is a traditional Turkish handicraft which has a special place in Turkish decorative arts. It has been mostly used in architectures, for both internal and external decorations. Tile art motives can be also seen on daily life objects such as dishes, cups or bowls and jugs...
Turkish Tile Objects in Etnography Museum of Ankara (Nov. 2019)
Tile art is a quite difficult craft which requires expertise and patience: Tile art objects are being created from clay which is shaped by hand and then fired in tile owens, these objects are then decorated with different colours and motives and again are being fired in owens with 900-940 degrees.
The roots of tile art is Central Asia, it had been transferred to Anatolia though Seljukians and developed further during Seljuk Empire period. In Turkish decorative arts, tile art had taken the place of mosaics and murals of Byzantine architecture (Turan, 2014: 320). The colours of tile art mosaics used in Seljuk minarets, walls, vaults and domes were mainly turquoise, dark blue, purple and white.
Objects, Pottery & Artwork with Turkish Tile Motives
The heyday of Turkish tile art was in 16th century during the Ottoman period, with “İznik” tile art. Different figures including birds, pomegranates and flowers such as hyacinths, gillyflowers and tulips were used in decorative tile art figures which had given a different ambiance and liveliness to monuments made in this period. In addition to monuments, homeware and personel items such as plates, vases, cups and ewers were also decorated with same type of figures. “İznik” tile art which formed an important period for Turkish tile art had lived a stagnation period at the end of 17th century and production had come almost to an end. Subsequently, tile art had begun to be made in “Kütahya” city of Turkey which still continues to be the most well known centre for Turkish tile art.
Turkish tile art, which dates back to 12th century, has an important part in Turkish traditional art. Today, this valuable art is being taught in courses, workshops and schools to transmit cultural identity to next generations. “Traditional craftsmanship of Çini-making” has also been inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.
References
Turan, S. (2014) From Turkish Culture to Culture of Turkey and Universalism. 7th ed. Ankara: Bilgi Publishing.
UNESCO (2016) Traditional craftsmanship of Çini-making [online] Available from: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/traditional-craftsmanship-of-cini-making-01058 (Accessed: 05 October 2019)
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2019) The Art Of Tile Making [online] Available from: https://www.ktb.gov.tr/EN-114015/the-art-of-tile-making.html (Accessed: 05 October 2019)