Persian_Tiles

Publish Date  : 2019-04-14
Persian_Tiles

Persian Tiles

Introduction

Tile work has  been widely used to adorn the surfaces of Persian architecture since ancient times .In the Islamic period of  Persia tiles lavishly decorated the interior and exterior walls of religious buildings , imperial places , and residences of dignitaries.

The oldest known tiles produced in Persia are square molded and glazed wall title with a knob in the middle from the temple at Choga Zanbil in Khuzistan , datable from the thirteen century .A number of square, polychrome tiles molded in relief were found at Susa in Luristan ;  their dates range from the twelfth to the seventh century.

They are usually painted in enamel and represent figures of animals and winged genii.

Other square tiles , probably coming from a ceiling , were found in Luristan at Baba Jan Tepe: They date from the eighth century and are made of baked clay painted with red geometrical designs.

 

 

Persian Tiles

 

 

After its initial success, this type of tilework seems do have become less popular. During the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods architectural decoration was produced mostly by the use of glazed bricks , painted stucco,  carved stone, marble mosaic , glazed bricks , painted stucco, carved stone, marble mosaic , or mural painting.

It was not until the middle of the ninth century , two centuries after the advent of Islam , that tilework was revived in Mesopotamia .Excavations at Samarra, the capital of the Abbasid dynasty from 836 to 883, unearthed a fragment of a square , polychrome-luster tile depicting a bird.

Tiles possibly produced by potters at Samarra , were also exported to Tunisia , where about 150 square , poly chrome-luster tiles are still visible around the top of the mihrab (prayer niche) of the Great Mosque at Qayrawan.

In Islamic Persia tile production is virtually unknown before the eleventh century .The tiles found at Ghazni , the capital of the Ghaznarid dynasty, presently in Afghanistan , are the first such objects recorded in excavations. Although those tiles were excavated in post-Ghaznavid layers and none of them was found in Situ, they can safely be dated before the second decade of the thirteenth century.

In addition , they show some affinities with the above-mentioned tiles excavated ast Susa, such as the pearl borders and the animals seen the profile.

However , the earliest evidence of the use of tilework an architectural surfaces is datable from about 1058: it is found on the minaret of the Friday Mosque in Damghan. The surface of this cylindrical tower is covered with a geometrical decoration in brickwork, except for the inscriptional frieze composed of turquoise-glazed tiles running horizontally just below its top:

The letters in kufic script with ornamental endings are molded in relief and glazed , while the marginal areas are left unglazed .The dome chamber of the Friday mosque in Qazvin , deted 1115, includes a border decoration in which small turquoise tiles are set : this is the earliest known example of  interior tile decoration in Islamic Persia. Turquoise tiles on external walls were also used almost in a manner of mosaic as components of geometrical patterns in contrast with the reddish color of unglazed baked bricks .The proportion of turquoise and of the increasingly popular cobalt blue colors set against the unglazed bricks increased noticeably in the twelfth century : a number of frieze tiles , carved and turquoise-glazed, survive from this period.

By the early thirteenth century, during the domination of the area by the Seljuks pottery production expanded greatly in Persia.