[Lucille Oka]

The Iznik Blues. These are a few of the beautiful Iznik pots. I never tire of looking at them.

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•  587px-Iznik_glazed_pottery_1490.jpg (184.58K)
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•  2006AF6063-VA 1520-1525 Ewer Iznik.jpg (115.49K)
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[Frederik-W]

The mathematical precision of the pattern on the plate amazes me,
how on earth did they manage to fit that pattern with such precision ?

Very beautiful.

[Marcia Selsor]

Algebra was invented in the middle east and used for pattern designs among other things. In my lecture at NCECA in 2007 I used algebraic illustrations of how patterns were developed..even the beautiful flowing ones on Lucille's images.

Marcia

[Kabe]

Algebra. It is amazing to me how much science is a part of ceramics. I was a science major who transfered over to art after I kind of fell in the mud and couldn't get out. Glazing is all chemistry and the reaction of its ingredient to fire. The explanation of it is in the math. Patterns work out of geometry and degress of a circle. The relationship between a lid and the pot is a mathmatical balance. Where the handle hangs on the side as far as funtion goes, is physics. I thought it was funny that the Art dept always referred to the science building as the Twilight Zone. It is as if the science dept configured the math and the art people applied it. ain't clay fun, kabe Beautiful blues. Pardon my lack of Art History but were these hand painted or was it after they sort of got a handle on those early transfer decal process? What time period are these from? One more note, I will really feel dumb if they are yours. If that is the case, a big sorry.

[Lucille Oka]

No they are not mine. I do not own them nor did I make them. I just like them. They are from Iznik in Turkey. The plate is 15^th century and the Ewer is 16^th Century both currently in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

They are hand painted and you can tell by close scrutiny of the design elements. However there may have been a pounced stencil employed on the plate for the basic shapes.

The vessels are marvelous works that require lots of patience to execute. These are imitative responses to the Chinese import porcelains.

[Chris Campbell]

Our local art museum had a display of Turkish pottery and for the opening they had several of these artists hand painting the work. It was amazing to watch them lay on these patterns free style ... You had to be an artist to appreciate how hard that is! Their brush was very thick but trimmed down to just one or two long hairs ... That way they could load the base with a lot of color and keep drawing for a long time without stopping. They get to be known as great artists by perfectly copying the Masters ... Only then are they allowed to do something original.

[Amy Waller]

Love these! Thanks for sharing, Lucille.

The Freer Sackler has some nice Iznik pottery - you can see some online here (just search for "Iznik" in the search box).

[confused_yet_curious]

Hey, do any of you know of any good glazes recipes for the Iznik glaze?

[Marcia Selsor]

Istanbul has beautiful isnik tiles in many of the mosques and Hagia Sophia. Topkopki museum is a treasure too.
Marcia