Iznik Ceramics
 

 



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This technic is another development of that period. According to documents and books giving information about that period, forty five of the sixhundred artists working for the court were painters and designers. The composition of decorations to be applied on the inner or outer surfaces of artistic architectural works were prepared by those artists. The preliminairy sketches were presented to the court by means of the head architect and the necessary approval was obtained. Imperial edicts and orders take place among the archives documents related to the Iznik tile workshops. In these documents dated 1575, 1578, 1588, not only the list of ordered products, but also the inventory of the tiles and pottery stocked in the depots are mentioned. Furthermore the names of the production supervisors and the artists are also written. The workshops that gave priority to the orders of the court and its close circles were more than 300 during that period. Those workshops met from time to time the demands for export and the foreign orders. The export port was Lindos in Rhodes. Some European researchers have been misled by the Rhodes stamps on the ceramics and they have mentioned these as Rhodes tiles and pottery in their publications. Some of these ceramics also bear the coats of arms of foreign families. It is understood from the samples that in addition to the Iznik production center, the workshops in Kütahya and Haliç, Istanbul successfully produced ceramics. The recession in Iznik and the decadence of the workshops started in the beginning of the 17th century. The colours lost their vividness. The coral and tomato blues darkened. Quality deficits and cracks on the glazes began. The attractiveness was lost. The net lines of the contours were dispersed. The political regression was felt most at the Iznik tile workshops among all the handcrafts. The decadence was completed when financial support ceased and the producer families were scattered away. The later attempts to revive did not give successful results. The level of the second half of the 16th century was never attained. Since the production technic details were kept secret, and the technical development knowledge was not mentioned in written documents, an important gap of information was formed for the following generations. The attempts for revival required thoroughly new efforts and these efforts could not be a substitution for the traditional training passing from one generation to the next.
The examples to be found in the museums and in private collection/gain value and they are considered rare works of art in the world antique markets.

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