On the picture: A large panel of Iznik tiles, with lots of flowers. One can easily recognize tulips and carnations. Other often used motifs are hyacinths, roses, pomegranates, feather-shaped reed grass, leaves 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’ .