Islamic Ceramic Tiles History

Medieval islamic pottery occupied a geographical position between chinese ceramics then the unchallenged leaders of eurasian production and the pottery of the byzantine empire and europe.

Islamic ceramic tiles history.

You ll find beautiful tile works in places such as tunisia 9th century kashan iran 11th century and many mosques dating from the 12th century and on. Moroccan ceramics are rich in history february 3 2011 a land of great natural beauty moroccan ceramic art represents a distinctive synthesis of varied cultural heritages. Van lemmen curator historian and president of the tiles and architectural ceramic society has written an authoritative and fascinating book that focuses on european clay tiles but also takes a look at egyptian chinese islamic and american tile history. The earliest known examples are egyptian and from 4 000 bc.

The more i study islamic art the more i fall in love with ceramic tiles. They were often used as embellishments for both the outside and inside of buildings. Its subsequent development was influenced by karakhanid ghaznavid and especially iranian seljuk art. For most of the period it can fairly be said to have been between the two in terms of aesthetic achievement and influence as well borrowing from china and exporting to and influencing byzantium and europe.

A lot of the patterns i replicate and reproduce for my islamic illumination are found on ceramic tiles of mosque and palaces in iran turkey morocco spain and portugal there are so many styles and techniques to ceramic tiles. Tiles are the simplest form of ceramic art. From 633 muslim armies moved rapidly towards persia byzantium. The era of islamic pottery started around 622.

Islamic art has notable achievements in ceramics both in pottery and tiles for buildings which reached heights unmatched by other cultures. They are often combined with other forms of ceramics such as terracotta faience and mosaic. Since the ninth century ad onwards most countries in which islamic culture predominates have had a tradition of producing and using tiles for the decoration of important buildings like mosques palaces religious colleges holy shrines and graves. The art of turkish tiles and ceramics occupies a place of prominence in the history of islamic art.

Berber influenced by the carthaginians and greeks and by the tribal arts of sub suharan africa arab persian sumerian french english moorish egyptian and andalucian. Its roots can be traced at least as far back as the uighurs of the 8th and 9th centuries. Early pottery had usually been unglazed but a tin opacified glazing technique was developed by islamic potters. Tiles cover walls and floors roofs and pavements furniture and stoves.