ted into Europe by the Turks), is as original and
distinctive as the arrangement of the different elements of the design
is artistic and charming. Other styles of design include formal patterns
and diapers, rarely human and animal figures, and occasionally armorial
devices and ships. Tiles of this ware were extensively used for lining
the walls of public buildings, replacing the carpets and textile
hangings which their designs so freely imitated. Of domestic articles,
dishes are the most numerous, though vases, ewers, sprinklers, jugs,
tankard-shaped flower-holders, covered bowls and mosque lamps are also
plentiful. The tiles are found in all parts of the Turkish empire,
though they were probably made at certain centres, such as Nicaea (which
gave its name to the ware in the 16th century and no doubt supplied many
of the mosques in Constantinople), Kutaia, Demitoka, Lindus and other
centres in Rhodes and Damascus. Individual wares cannot be
distinguished, except in some measure those of Damascus and Kutaia. A
small jug in the Godman Collection has an Armenian inscription stating
that it was made by "Abraham of Kutaia" in the 16th century. A few fine
bowls and vases, painted in a beautiful blue with Persian arabesques and
rosette scrolls, recalling Chinese porcelains of the Ming dynasty, but
of very characteristic appearance, are also attributed to this place;
and later, in the 18th and up to the end of the 19th century, an
inferior ware was largely manufactured here. This late ware usually
takes the form of small objects--plates, cups, jugs, egg-shaped
ornaments, &c.--with a thin, well-potted, white body and slight patterns
of radiating leaves, scale diapers, &c., in blue, black and yellow.
Turkish pottery was at its best in the 16th and the early part of the
17th century, and though good tile work of later date exists, the
general pottery deteriorated before the 18th century. An inferior ware
of poor colour is still produced in Turkey, Persia and Syria, and some
attempt has been made of late to revive the old lustre decoration, but
the results are not likely to be mistaken for those of old times.

_Collections_.--The Victoria and Albert Museum contains the finest
collection of the medieval pottery of the nearer East--the British
Museum collection, though much smaller, has some magnificent examples.
The Cluny Museum in Paris has a never-to-be-forgotten collection of
Turkish pottery, especially plates and dishes