A rare Diyarbakir polychrome pottery tile, Turkey, second half 16th century

The city of Diyarbakir in Southeastern Anatolia constituted an alternative centre of production for Ottoman tiles in the second half of the sixteenth century. Although presenting similar patterns and colours, Julian Raby notes that Diyarbakir tiles are distinguishable by their blueish tint, tight compositions, softer fritware and light craquelures (N. Atasoy & J. Raby, Iznik, the pottery of Ottoman Turkey, 1989, p.74).

Diyarbakir was known for the standardisation of certain patterns, which would be replicated on various monuments (ibid., p.278). Identical tiles to the present example are in situ on the Western wall of the Sahabeler Türbesi in Diyarbakir (see Cemal Cig, 'An assessment on some tiles from Ottoman period in Diyarbakir', Istanbul Journal of Social Sciences, Issue 8, 2014, p.10, (https://docplayer.biz.tr/2679597-Diyarbakir-daki-bazi-osmanli-donemi-cinileri-uzerine-bir-degerlendirme-an-assesment-on-some-tiles-from-ottoman-period-in-diyarbakir.html)). Other similar tiles are found on the walls of the mausoleum chamber in the Hazreti Suleyman Mosque, Diyarbakir, an eighteenth century building with re-used tiles (See Dr Y. Haspolat, Diyarbakir Hazreti Suleyman Camii (e-book), 2014, pp.75-76 (https://docplayer.biz.tr/43930164-Diyarbakir-hz-suleyman-camii-prof-dr-yusuf-kenan-haspolat.html)). A similar tile is in the Antaki Collection (published in Y. Petsopoulos, Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans: decorative arts from the Ottoman Empire, London, 1982), while a comparable fragment is in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney (inv. no.89-1440) and a panel consisting of four similar tiles is in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo (published in G. Degeorge et al., The Art of the Islamic Tile, 2002, p.211).