Fig. 43.—Rhodian Dish.
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 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.
Fig. 44.—Vase, Siculo-Arabian Ware; Fourteenth Century.
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. 45.—Ornament from the Cupola of the Mosque of Soliman the Great, Constantinople.