Ceramics in Anatolia

Ceramics in the oldest centre of population, Anatolia, are seen in Çatalhöyük in 6500 BC. Ceramics in Anatolia is as old as the transition of man from the collecting culture to a settled and productive culture. 

The first examples of coloured ceramics in Anatolia are seen in Hacılar works. Hacılar ceramics reflect a high technique and an advanced understanding of decoration.

Earthenware had originally been shaped by hand, while the use of a hand lathe known to have been found in Mesopotamia started for such work in 3500 BC.

With improvements in technique, ceramics gained more importance in economic and social life. Small figures of fertility used for religious ceremonies were replaced by pots and oil lamps designed for various daily needs.

Large jars, water jugs and amphorae, as well as wool spinners, were created to produce and store such fluids as crucible – for melting metal –, fragrance, beverages and oil utilized at the time for industrial and commercial purposes.     

The firing method used in the Prehistoric Age, which is used in Anatolia even today, was applied by placing such pots as stew pans and fryers into an open fire and covering them with earth and bushes.

With the higher temperatures reached in shaft kilns, which were used after 4000 BC, it was possible to produce more durable goods. Today, such kilns can be seen in pottery villages in Thrace and Central Anatolia.

The Hittite Period (1450-120 BC) was the prime of Anatolian ceramics.

The monochromic ceramics of the Urartian Period bear the influence of Assyria.

Works of Phrygian, Lydian, Lycian, Carian and Ionian civilizations demonstrate a Greek influence.

During the Hellenistic Age (300-30 BC), decorated pots were produced under the influence of Greek and Iranian arts.

In the Roman period, as well as relief and sealed consumer goods and ornaments, buildings were also decorated with ceramics.

On the other hand, in the Byzantine Period (4-14 BC), ceramics appeared in motifs and colours as a synthesis of Roman and Anatolian cultures. Cultures of Christian, Islamic and ethnic groups were interwoven.

The Seljuk Period produced the most beautiful examples in the history of ceramics. Ceramics were incorporated into buildings in glazed or encaustic tiles. Religious buildings in such cities as Konya and Diyarbakır demonstrate varied décor techniques with a vivid and unconventional Seljuk approach. In this period, artists’ works on potter’s clay and glaze contributed greatly to the art of ceramics.

Thanks to the important trade routes passing through Anatolia, its migrating movements for various reasons and the large land area of the Ottoman Empire, ceramics became even more prominent and enjoyed its prime in the 16th Century especially with Anatolian works bearing the mark of Islamic Culture under the influence of various different cultures.

In Kütahya, one of ceramic production centres, ceramics developed in vivid, multicoloured and free-patterned works produced more in an extension of folk art.

On the other hand, Iznik and Istanbul workshops produced finer works for the Palace’s taste. 

Today, there are various workshops in almost all regions of Anatolia that abstain from repeating the old to provide works of genuine creativity in this art form.

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