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CERAMIC TILES: ALONG HISTORY |
Ceramics are defined as products made from inorganic materials, having non-metallic properties and processed at a high temperature at some time during their manufacture. The word ‘ceramics’ comes from the Greek word ‘keramos,’ meaning ‘clay’ or ‘earthenware’. This Greek word is related to an old Sanskrit term meaning ‘to burn’ (originally meaning ‘burnt things’).
Ceramic tiles have a unique place in history. They were undoubtedly the first product of domestic use to be both functional and decorative. The history of tiles dates back as far as the fourth century B.C., when tiles were used in Egypt to decorate various types of houses. At that time, clay bricks were dried in the sun or baked and the first glazes in blue, derived from copper, were applied to their surfaces: .
Ancient tiles – dating back to the same period and generally decorated with simple alternating white and blue stripes - were found in Mesopotamia. Others, more recent and with more articulated patterns, have been unearthed in Tunisia (ninth century A.D.), Kashan, Iran (eleventh century), and found in several Middle-Eastern mosques, displaying Koranic scripts on a coloured base (twelfth century onwards). With regard to Eastern Asia, which we will only touch on briefly for lack of space, intense ceramic activity was registered early on in China, Korea and Japan.
Iznik (in Turkey) was one of the main manufacturing centres of later Islamic ceramic tiles and, from the end of the fourteenth century, stood out for the quality of its products. Whereas, initially, production was concentrated on white and blue pieces, during the first half of the sixteenth century, the colour palette of Iznik’s ceramics expanded to include turquoise, crimson, green, black and, from around 1550, a particular shade of scarlet. The most appreciated patterns were the ones representing plants and flowers- particularly tulips - which were depicted on ceramic tiles, plates and crockery. |
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