HISTORY OF TURKISH TILE ART
Turkish Tile Art and History
Turkish Tile Art and History: It is a cultural heritage of Anatolian civilization with its historical forms and delicacies. Turkish Tile Art that carries this heritage to our homes. The tile, which is accepted as its homeland, has a centuries-old history in the lands of Kütahya and Iznik.
Tile, which is one of the traditional Turkish Arts, is generally used in the decoration of architectural structures. Mosque, mansion. It is a patterned ceramic product used in the interior and exterior decorations of palaces, fountains, tombs and similar structures. Kütahya and Iznik Tiles are divided into two types.
1- Wall tiles, Westerners call this type of tiles Tile-Art, our ancients called Kashi.
2. This type of tile, called Evani, consists of plates, vases, mugs, bowls, jugs, glasses and similar tile-patterned ceramic products. We still call this type Kütahya porcelain ceramics.
Since ancient times, the Turks preferred to decorate their buildings with mosaic tiles and tile tiles.
Turkish Tile Art and History
It is especially common in the period of the Karakhanids (955) who established the first Muslim Turkish state to accept Islam. They began to decorate their temples with mosaic handmade tiles and patterned tile motifs. The tradition of hand-decorated tile tile decoration, which started to be seen in the buildings of the period, is frequently seen. This tradition shows that Turkish Tile Art has a history of more than a thousand years.
This preference became a tradition during the Great Seljuks and Anatolian Seljuks. Later, it continued during the Ottoman period as well. The Seljuks used it as decoration in many architectural areas that they built in the places they dominated. If we need to talk briefly about the characteristics of Seljuk tiles: we see that they are square or rectangular, hexagonal. We can see that one side of them is painted and fired with glaze mixed colors such as blue, dark blue, ocher, turquoise, black and brown. We can say that they are ornaments made in the form of mosaics, applied on plaster or Khorasan mortar. Kufi style inscriptions and rumi motifs were added to this mosaic technique, which was developed over time. Turkish tile art, which developed in historical periods, reached its peak with Iznik and Kütahya tiles in the 16th century.
Archaeological excavations and researches were carried out especially in the city of Kütahya, which was known as KOTIAEION in ancient times. As a result, it has been proven that ceramics has been produced in Kütahya since ancient times.
The transition to new techniques in Turkish tile Art;
Tile pattern, form and tile have been made possible by researching and applying new production techniques and possibilities that will meet the ever-increasing demand in a shorter time without bringing back the taste and competence of art.