at our difficulties of identification are increased by
the fact that, under Arab rule, Syrian and Persian potters were at work
in Damascus, in Old Cairo and elsewhere. Among the Fostat fragments
classified by Dr Fouquet are many bearing the signatures of Syrian
workmen. In the 15th and 16th centuries, too, imitations of Chinese
blue-and-white porcelain became common throughout the nearer East, and
quantities of fragments have been found at Fostat, Ephesus and
elsewhere.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Rhodian Jug.]

_Turkish Pottery_.--This beautiful and striking ware, formerly called
Persian, and till lately Rhodian because Rhodes was a known centre of
manufacture, seems to have been fabricated in all the countries overrun
by the Ottoman Turks in the 13th century, so that the name "Turkish," in
spite of some opposition, is now generally applied to it. (See fig. 42;
and the 16th-century Rhodian or Turkish pieces, Plate V.) It has a fine
white body of the usual sandy texture, covered, as a rule, with a wash
of pure white slip; it is painted in strong brilliant colours, chiefly
blue, turquoise, green, and a peculiar red pigment which is heaped up in
palpable relief--the whole of the ornament being outlined with black or
dark green. The ware was glazed with an alkaline glaze of great depth,
so that the colours soften and sometimes run, producing one of the most
brilliant and attractive of all the oriental wares. In certain districts
the white ground was not used, but over it a slip of the red colour
(Armenian bole), varying in strength from bright red to pale salmon, was
laid over the piece, reserving the pattern only in the white slip, which
consequently lies lower than the red ground. Other examples are known
where the ground has been covered with lavender, blue, sage, apple and
turquoise greens, chocolate or coffee-brown, and the sumptuous effect of
the whole was often increased by the application of gold-leaf over the
fired glaze. The decorative motives are distinguished from those of the
Persian wares by a breadth and boldness which are in keeping with the
brilliant, and not always harmonious, colouring. They include, it is
true, the Persian arabesque, the floral scroll with feathery leaf, the
thistle-bloom and the cypress tree, but the naturalistic treatment which
permits immediate recognition of the favourite Turkish flowers such as
the tulip, hyacinth, carnation, fritillary, cornflower and lily (some of
which were impor