Islamic Ceramic Tiles History

Tiles are the simplest form of ceramic art.

Islamic ceramic tiles history.

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. Tiles cover walls and floors roofs and pavements furniture and stoves. Its roots can be traced at least as far back as the uighurs of the 8th and 9th centuries. 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. During the islamic period decorative ceramic tiles became popular. The earliest known examples are egyptian and from 4 000 bc. Early pottery had usually been unglazed but a tin opacified glazing technique was developed by islamic potters.

They are often combined with other forms of ceramics such as terracotta faience and mosaic. They were often used as embellishments for both the outside and inside of buildings. In the same way islamic restrictions greatly discouraged figurative wall painting encouraging the architectural use of schemes of decorative tiles which are the most distinctive and original speciality of islamic ceramics. 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.

The era of islamic pottery started around 622. 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. Through history tiles were made by assyrians babylonians and the islamic. 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.

From 633 muslim armies moved rapidly towards persia byzantium. The more i study islamic art the more i fall in love with ceramic tiles. 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. 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.