Islamic art is "the art produced for rulers or population of Islamic culture" (Brend, 10). The Islamic world is so large and varied that it should come as no surprise that each region has its own style. However because they share the same Islamic identity, the styles come together producing objects that carried from one country to another.Tile production was a secretive practice. Workshops were headed by an ustad (master craftsman). The ustad had many apprentices. Many of these apprentices were members of his family. This helped to keep the method of tile production a family secret. With the passing of techniques to family members, there is slight deviation in ceramics through the centuries. Sometimes after the apprentices had finished their training they would stay on in the workshop or opened their own workshops in other locations. This would lead to the migration of techniques to other Islamic areas
[...] In other parts of the Islamic world, especially Kashan, tile production from 1243-1255 seems to have slowed or stopped due to Mongol invasions. However Afrasiyab in Samarqand in Central Asia and Raqqa on the Euphrates did not undergo ruin. Techniques and styles from these areas continued and increased after the Mongol invasions. These styles developed into chinoiserie motifs. They became known as ‘Sultanabad ware'.Kashan was the major center of pottery from the twelfth to fourteenth century during Il- khanid rule. [...]
[...] “Large-scale, extensive luster tile work began to be sued to decorate the interior of religious monuments, especially shrine complexes about the beginning of the 13th century. During the late 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongol period, the role of tile revetment as a kind of colorful decorative skin expanded considerably, extending to the exterior of buildings; at the same time a variety of new techniques and tile types were introduced” (Komaroff and Carboni, 7). Lustre was first used in Egypt in the 8th century to decorate glass. [...]
[...] Evidence of onsite tile production can be found by kiln remains and tile moulds found at the site. Many of these tiles were painted in lustre and lajvardina. The tiles are religious. They contain verses from the Qur'an and reference Shiite Imams. Some of the tiles also contain verses from the Shahnameh. The next significant tile period was that of Timur. Timur (1370-1405) was the ruler of the Chagatayid domains in Central Asia. He ruled these domains in the last quarter of the fourteenth century. [...]
[...] However they produced very little tile and the tile that did come out of that region, was decorated in the Sgraffid (incised underglaze designs) technique. A minor group of lustre tiles can be found in North Africa at Qalaʽat Bani Hammad in Algeria. This structure was built by the Berber dynasty. The tiles found at Qalaʽat feature Kufic script with “words of good wishes, such as barakah (blessing) and yumn (prosperity)” (Porter, 30). The shape of these tiles “form a panel with eight-pointed tiles, and thus coincidentally anticipate the 13th century tiles of Kashan in Iran” (Porter, 30). [...]
[...] The main centers of tile production were Shiraz, Tehran and Isfahan. Potters at this time began to sign their works. One of the best known potters of this time was ʽAli Muhammad Isfahani. His patron was Major General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith. He was based in Iran from 1865 to 1888, collecting objects for the South Kensington Museum, which later became the Victoria and Albert Museum.The next period of tile production comes from the reign of the Mamluks, who ruled from 1250-1517. [...]
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