The Uzun Hasan Mosque in Tabriz: New Perspectives on a Tabrizi Ceramic Tile Workshop

During the fifteenth century Tabriz was famous for its workshops (sing. kitābkhāna). Its manuscript production was renowned, as were its ceramics. By the end of the century, a Tabrizi craftsman was even said to have attempted an imitation of porcelain, an episode that illustrates the dynamism of the city’s workshops. As far as Cairo, Damascus, Bursa, and Shahr-i Sabz, potters bearing a nisba (element of a name indicating relation or origin) from Tabriz perpetuated the fame of its prestigious workshops. Turkmen rulers also built great architectural complexes in Tabriz. But between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, a number of earthquakes severely damaged this flourishing city, devastating its historical monuments. In addition to these natural disasters, in 1514 Tabriz was attacked and its treasuries plundered by the Ottoman army.

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