An enthrallingly display of Iznik ceramic tiles and flatware was exhibited at the Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel. Norman A. Rubin reviewed the exhibition that displayed the fascinating history of the Iznik potters and their magnificent craftsmanship.
 
In the sixteenth century, three Islamic empires were established in Western Asia and India. The oldest and largest of these empires was the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which had begun its expansion at the end of the thirteenth century.
 
The Ottoman Empire was a multinational entity whose cosmopolitan and polyglot court attracted artists and artisans under the patronage of the sultans. Working in the productive atmosphere of the court, they fashioned a new imperial style based on the legacy of the past. The court style, which had already been established in the time of Mehmet the Conqueror (1451-1481) runs as a theme through various arts forms, including pottery.

 
The center of pottery production eventually shifted to the city of Iznik, though court archives indicate that there still remained pottery studios in the capital city of Istanbul. For this reason, it is customary to use the name Iznik to designate all glazed pottery dating from the Ottoman period. Iznik pottery, one of the Ottomani decorative arts, demonstrate momentum and breathtaking beauty despite its simple materials; clay decorated with lead under glazed pigments.
 
 
During the Byzantine era the pottery of Iznik was similar to the other pottery of Anatolia, but after the Turkish conquest it developed its own distinctive style. Blue and white plates, bowls, vases, and lamps and other items were made in Iznik in the fifteenth century, with floral designs. Moreover production expanded greatly as the pottery workshops were turned into imperial tile manufacturing for the many grandiose palaces and monumental buildings.
 
Color and Design
In September 1514, after the decisive victory of the Ottoman army over the Safavid rulers in the Battle of Caldran, many Persian artists and artisans flocked to Istanbul and joined the imperial workshops (nakkashane - Turkish). There they established the ancient Turkish style of 'Saz' (enchanted forest - early Turkish), a style of composed of flowers arranged on delicate tendrils burgeoning with long serrated leaves. 'Saz' patterns were traced on paper and transferred to textiles and ceramics, produced in the imperial court workshops in Instanbul.
 
The style changed with the incorporation of floral Arabesques outlined on a cobalt-blue background intertwined with calligraphic ornamentation. Other designs began to emerge on the tiles and other artifacts, mainly consisting of spiral scrolls derived from the stylized "TUGHRA" (imperial cipher) of Suleiman the Magnificent (c.1520-1566), which is often seen on state documents (Firmans).

 
Turquoise was added to the traditional Iznik palette of blue and white from the 1530's onwards. From the year 1540 onwards, mauve and purple also appears in Iznik designs, followed by the color pigments of green and exquisite coral red unique to Iznik pottery ware.
 
(Most of the colors were prepared from metal oxides; blue from cobalt, brownish red from iron; green from copper and yellow from antimony; off-white was the natural color of the glazed clay.)
 
Potters also began using an earthy red glaze known as "Iznik Red' or "Armenian Bole", a thick clay slip rich in iron. (A rich variety of soft unctuous clays of various colors was used as pigments. The color red was predominant.). The thick, protuberant red glaze appeared for the first time in tiles for Sulieman's complex of mosques and palaces, completed in 1557.

 
During this period the finest Iznik pottery and tiles were exuberantly decorated with flowers of all sorts in a stylized floral designs known as "Hatay" (Cathay) with Chinese cloud patterns and geometric designs. Early Iznik fritware attempted to duplicate the hardness, whiteness and translucency of much sought after near contemporary Chinese porcelain of the Yung and Ming dynasties (favored by the Ottoman rulers, which became a major part of their collection.)
 
But, in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, the early decorative styles were abandoned. The 'Cini' (Chinese patterns and stylized arabesques were replaced by patterns based on the local flora of Anatolia', primarily tulips (in Turkish, Lale, a name that incorporates the name of "Allah" and that of the crescent "Hilal".)