The artistic pottery and tiles of Persia, though forming a large variety, may nearly all be brought under the designation of siliceous or glass-glazed wares, the tin glaze being only met with occasionally in some Persian and Damascus examples, where an unusually white surface was required. All the glazed wares of Persia are highly baked, and are mostly of a semi-translucent character. There is the fine copper, ruby, and brown lustred ware, which has sometimes a white and at others a blue ground. The plate (Fig. 36) is an example of this ware. The design on this ware is in the pure Persian character.

Another kind, and by far the most numerous, are the wares of a coarse porcelain variety, not only made in imitation of Chinese porcelain, but decorated to imitate the Chinese ware, the ornament being sometimes mixed with Arabian forms; the colour a bright blue on a white ground, and the Chinese marks or signatures being copied as well (Figs. 37 and 38).

In the reign of the Persian Shah Abbas the Great (a.d. 1586-1628) the route for travellers and merchants from China to Europe lay across Persia, and many objects of merchandise were imported from China to Persia, including great quantities of Chinese porcelain, many examples of which were purchased in Persia that are now in our museums, as well as specimens in abundance of the imitated Chinese variety. The beautiful enamelled earthenware tiles were made with and without the metallic lustre in the days of, and anterior to the reign of, Shah Abbas, but since his time the art has declined, and nothing but a coarse and inartistic pottery has been made in recent times. As a rule the excellence of Persian pottery, like wine, is augmented in proportion to its age.

The picturesque wall tile (Fig. 39) was found in the ruins of the palace of Shah Abbas II. (1642-1666), near Ispahan. It has a blue ground with white embossed decorations and black pencillings, and is lustred.

Wall tiles have been in use in Persia from a very early date. Some of them are beautiful in colour, having usually a deep lapis-lazuli blue ground or white. Sometimes the design is complete on one tile, but generally a whole tile has only a portion of the pattern, many tiles being required to make up the complete pattern (Fig. 40). The tiles are made to fit into all kinds of spaces, according to the shape of the wall, and these arrangements have usually a border design.

The lustred tiles are of an older date than the Persian fayence fine ware, or imitated Chinese porcelain. The body composition of the tiles resembles that of the old bricks that are found in great quantities in the ruinous mounds of Rhages (Rh*š), where also many fragments of tiles have been found, and some remains of potters' kilns, proving that Rhages must have been the centre of extensive pottery works. Another class of Persian ware has a thin, hard, and nearly translucent paste, which is decorated by having pierced holes filled in with transparent glaze. It is creamy white in colour, and has foliated ornament in blue or brown. This has been called Gombion Ware.

One variety of decoration on a late seventeenth-century Persian bowl is shown at Fig. 41. This is a good example of the late floral ornament.

Damascus Ware

Damascus Ware has generally been classified as Persian, but in many points it is different from the latter. It is better in colour and design. Some examples have a smooth even glaze, and are coloured with a fine quality of cobalt blue, turquoise green, and a dull lilac or purple intermixed with white portions of the design evenly distributed. The ornament is less florid and the fayence is. of an older date than the majority of Persian examples. The "Damas" cups or vases have always been highly prized for their beauty, and the wall tiles from Damascus are the most beautiful of all Oriental tiles.

Rhodian Or Lindus Tiles And Pottery

Rhodian Or Lindus Tiles And Pottery have been also classified as Persian, but again this ware is quite distinct from Persian or Damascus wares. Rhodian pottery is coarser than the two former varieties, and the decoration is brighter and more strongly marked. The ornament is of a very conventional character, and in colour it is charactensed by having a red opaque pigment used in spots and patches, and sometimes in bands, but always raised or embossed.

The plates shown in Figs. 42 and 43 are examples of Rhodian ware.

The island of Sicily was conquered by the Saracens in A.D. 827, and about the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries potteries of glazed wares had been established by the latter.

Some examples of their work of these periods have decorations of animals, figures, birds, and also mock Saracenic inscriptions like the Siculo-Arabian textiles of the same and later periods (Fig. 44).

Anatolian Ware

Anatolian Ware is a later variety that is akin to the Persian wares, but somewhat coarser and of a duller surface. This ware is small in size, and the colouring is usually gay on light grounds. The tiles from Anatolia are less inventive in their ornament and rougher in execution than the Damascus or Rhodian.

The decoration of Turkish tiles and Turkish ornament generally is of the Saracenic kind, but has neither the beauty nor the invention of the other varieties of Persian. There are no plant nor animal forms in the Turkish variety of Saracenic ornament; it is more allied to the Egyptian Saracenic, but lacks the ingenuity of the latter. The colour is harsh and crude. It is seen at its best in the tomb mosque of Soliman the Great at Constantinople (Fig. 45), built in 1544. The decoration of the palace of the Seraglio and of the "Sultanin Valide" consists of beautiful tiles that were brought from Persia to Constantinople.

Fig. 36. Persian Lustred Ware.

Fig. 37. Flower Vase, Persian, with Chinese decoration.

Fig. 38. Persian Water-bottle; imitated Chinese decoration.

Fig. 39. Persian Tile; Seventeenth Century.

Fig. 40. Persian Wall Decoration.

Fig. 41. Blue Persian Bowl; Seventeenth Century. (S. K. M).

Fig. 42. Rhodian Ware.

Fig. 43. Rhodian Dish.

Fig. 44. Vase, Siculo-Arabian Ware; Fourteenth Century.

Fig. 45. Ornament from the Cupola of the Mosque of Soliman the Great, Constantinople.