İznik tile artists briefly paint the town red

NIKI GAMM

Blue might be the color that comes to mind most when one thinks of İznik tiles, but there was a brief period of effervescence in the 16th century when red was the color of the day. The period lasted no longer than 30 years before dropping out of fashion

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Not only did İznik tiles decorate architectural works in Istanbul, ceramic wares for daily use also found their way into the palace kitchen for such occasions as births, circumcisions and enthronement ceremonies and decorated the dining tables of the wealthy. Hürriyet photo

In the second half of the sixteenth century, there was a brief window of opportunity during which the ceramic workshops in İznik produced an extraordinary red color on their wares. The time frame was 1550 to 1580, at a point when the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, during its classical period. İznik as well as Kütahya had long been centers of tile-making because the clay soil in their vicinity was particularly suited to the production of ceramic wares. Wood was readily obtainable from the woods in the area. Neither of the two cities was very far from Istanbul and both were on commercial routes. Tile production was carried out in İznik in the Roman, Byzantine, Anatolian Seljuk and Beylik eras.


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