Architectural Geology of Ottoman Istanbul, Part 6: Interior Decoration of a Subsidiary Full Dome | Sultan Ahmed Mosque ("Blue Mosque") (AD 1616)
This is the same smaller full dome discussed and shown in part in the previous photo of this series.
It's in the mosque's domes and semidomes where the stunning artistry of the İznik Tile most powerfully expresses its grace, symmetry, chromatic harmony, and suggestion of divine order, all through abstract floral and vegetative motifs. Two decades ago I taught a Chicago Architecture Center course entitled The Botany of Architecture. It was a treat to present this seemingly offbeat topic, but what an opportunity I missed in not focusing then on this magnificent building.
While I'm still not sure of the geologic origin of the clays used specifically for the İznik faience, some interesting sources kindly provided by SRL Gemstone, available in the Comments section of Part 4 of this set, confirm that Turkey has had a number of regional centers of world-class ceramic production over the centuries.
İznik, whose pre-Ottoman name was Nicaea, is also of interest to students of Late Roman and Byzantine history. Besides being the venue for early Christian Church councils, it served as the capital of a breakaway empire during the temporary Latin takeover of Constantinople in the thirteenth century AD.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Architectural Geology of Ottoman Istanbul album.
Architectural Geology of Ottoman Istanbul, Part 6: Interior Decoration of a Subsidiary Full Dome | Sultan Ahmed Mosque ("Blue Mosque") (AD 1616)
This is the same smaller full dome discussed and shown in part in the previous photo of this series.
It's in the mosque's domes and semidomes where the stunning artistry of the İznik Tile most powerfully expresses its grace, symmetry, chromatic harmony, and suggestion of divine order, all through abstract floral and vegetative motifs. Two decades ago I taught a Chicago Architecture Center course entitled The Botany of Architecture. It was a treat to present this seemingly offbeat topic, but what an opportunity I missed in not focusing then on this magnificent building.
While I'm still not sure of the geologic origin of the clays used specifically for the İznik faience, some interesting sources kindly provided by SRL Gemstone, available in the Comments section of Part 4 of this set, confirm that Turkey has had a number of regional centers of world-class ceramic production over the centuries.
İznik, whose pre-Ottoman name was Nicaea, is also of interest to students of Late Roman and Byzantine history. Besides being the venue for early Christian Church councils, it served as the capital of a breakaway empire during the temporary Latin takeover of Constantinople in the thirteenth century AD.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Architectural Geology of Ottoman Istanbul album.