Page 236 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

The Royal Kilns

he production of ceramics during the age of Süleyman The four types of Ottoman pottery 2 all evolved and flour-
Twas extremely prolific and creative, developing new styles ished during the age of Süleyman. The first type is underglaze
and techniques that not only revolutionized the tradition of painted in blue, or blue-and-white ware, which relied heavily
Ottoman pottery, but had a profound and long-lasting impact on the nakka^hanc for design and metalwork for shapes, and
for centuries to come, both within the empire and abroad. incorporated selected motifs from Chinese porcelain. The sec-
This era witnessed a diversity of styles that show the strong ond type, which is less coherent, employed two tones of
influence of designs formulated in the nakka^hane. Decora- blue—blue and turquoise—and reveals a larger repertoire of
tive themes used in manuscript illuminations (and even fig- nakka§hanc themes, representing saz designs, spiral scrolls,
urai illustrations) were expertly applied to pottery and tiles naturalistic flora, and figurai elements in addition to Chinese-
and rendered with the same finesse, revealing the hands of inspired compositions. The third type expanded the palette by
master painters or designers. incorporating green, which ranges from sage (similar to the
The construction of a large number of religious, charitable, pistachio-green found on textiles) to olive, and purple, which
and educational architectural compounds sponsored by the varies between pale mauve and violet. The designs in this
sultans, members of the royal family, and high-ranking ad- group display spontaneity and expert drawing. The fourth
ministrators resulted in an unprecedented need for tiles. Ce- type, which replaced the weaker greens and purples with a
ramic vessels were also highly regarded by the court and kept brilliant emerald green and a bright, true red, established the
in the Hazine; furthermore, they were commissioned and classical style of Ottoman pottery with an exuberant display
purchased by wealthy Ottomans and Europeans. Imperial pa- of all the decorative themes practiced by the court artists.
tronage and domestic and foreign markets promoted a de- The chronological sequence of these four types of Iznik ce-
mand for high-quality wares, to which the potters responded ramics is generally established by tiles found in dated or dat-
by creating some of the most distinguished objects in the his- able buildings and a few objects inscribed with dates. Al-
tory of ceramics. though these sources are useful for determining the years in
Sixteenth-century Ottoman ceramics are technically unsur- which the types flourished, they are by no means indicative
passed: the compact, hard, and white body was covered with of the beginning or, more significantly, the end of each, since
an engobe (thin coating of fine white slip), which produced a the groups overlapped and coexisted for some decades. The
smooth surface; the designs were painted with clear and bril- blue-and-white and blue-and-turquoise survived well into the
liant colors, which were frequently shaded and outlined by seventeenth century; the type with the pale green and purple
darker lines; the glaze was crystal-clear, even, and close- also continued beyond the sixteenth century, particularly in
fitting. These technical features enabled the potters to produce such provinces as Syria. It was, however, the polychrome
an extraordinary range of themes, at times rivaling the works ware with the bright green and red that came to characterize
of the nakka§hane masters. They employed traditional motifs, Ottoman ceramics after the 1550s.
saz designs, and naturalistic flowers in addition to inscriptions It is useful to turn to the nakka§hane to establish the ter-
and figurai compositions. They also produced copies as well mini a quo for the designs that were employed in all four
as adaptations of Yuan and Ming dynasty Chinese porcelain 1 types. Traditional floral scrolls, rumis, and cloud bands as
and translated contemporary metalwork shapes and designs well as themes inspired by Yuan and Ming dynasty porcelain
into pottery. were well within the decorative vocabulary of the artists by
the middle of the fifteenth century. The saz style, established
Detail, 180 in the Istanbul nakka§hane in the 1530s, and the naturalistic

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