The technology of fifteenth century Turkish tiles: An interim statement on the origins of the Iznik industry

Abstract Study of the technology of Turkish tiles and pottery during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries reveals a complex of technical features. The variation, particularly in the technology of tile bodies in the fifteenth century, contrasts with the consistent use of an alkali‐lead frit and a slip layer for the Ottoman pottery of Iznik from about 1475 until the seventeenth century. This paper considers what the development of the ceramic technology in the fifteenth century reveals about the genesis of the Iznik pottery.