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Dick Osseman | all galleries >> Galleries >> Iznik tiles and other pieces of Turkish earthenware > Istanbul june 2008 3179.jpg
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21-JUN-2008

Istanbul june 2008 3179.jpg

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The garden inside the mosque complex has some very fine Iznik tiles, here are some.

An example of the pure white ground on which the design (stylised leaves, flowers and blossoms) is depicted.
Often used motifs are tulips, roses, carnations, hyacinths, violets, pomegranates, feather-shaped reed grass, leaves, grape bunches and vines, and arched flower branches. In Ottoman culture (and more generally in Islamic art) flowers symbolize the Garden of Eden and Paradise.
These designs were drawn by the artists of the Topkapı Sarayı workshop and sent to the potters at Iznik for transfer to the tile panels and plates, which were not only used in the mosques and palaces of the Ottoman Empire, but were exported all over Europe.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: ‘Islamic Architecture: Ottoman Turkey’ (Godfrey Goodwin) – London 1977
& Website of ‘turkishculture.org’ .

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