The Turkish Period Ceramics in the Kütahya Museum

Project no. 22655 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2021

Summary

Thanks to its efficient clay beds and raw material resources, Kütahya has managed to become one of the substantial ceramic production centers throughout history. Today, deep-rooted ceramic production, dating back to 5000 years, is mainly carried out in industrial areas and various factories. Today, although production is moved to the industrial field, conventional production techniques and art conception are carried over to the future by various artists.Many tiles and ceramics belonging to the Turkish Period are available in the warehouse of Kütahya Museum. These archaeological findings from the excavations in the city center are extremely important in terms of revealing the production tradition of Kütahya ceramics for about 600 years.The subject of the thesis is the Turkish Period ceramics recovered from the excavations in the city center for many years and preserved in the museum warehouse. The 18th century of Kütahya ceramics is a period in which a much larger number of samples have survived compared to previous centuries. For this reason, more detailed information is obtained about the productions of the 18th century. However, the information about this period is not at a level to fully shed a light on the Kütahya ceramics. Kütahya ceramics have been examined through excavation findings from different cities or samples from various museum collections until today. In Kütahya, the main production center, detailed studies could not be carried out due to the inadequacy of archaeological excavations. In the thesis, the ceramics recovered in Kütahya have not been disclosed to the science world until today.Within the scope of the study, kiln materials, defective, burnt, semi-finished products, which are located in the museum warehouse and indicate the production of ceramics, and the productions of Kütahya between the 14th-15th centuries and the white framed ceramics of the 15th-16th century, which we do not yet have very satisfactory information in possession, are discussed. In addition, Kınık production ceramics in the warehouse have also been included in the study. These samples were not only examined with their style, pattern and form characteristics, but also production conditions and material information were investigated in detail. In addition to all these, it was endeavored to determine the places that could be a workshop in the city center by tracing the ceramics recovered with tripod or defective productions and noted with the findings of the period.In our thesis, two fragments in which glaze and slip techniques were applied together in the "Miletus work" ceramic group were examined. This application, which we have not yet found a similar example except for a bowl in Kütahya Castle, has been interpreted as a new technique experiment of the masters. In addition, a new plate group with conical body, outwardly thickened simple mouth and flat bottom has been determined in terms of form in the samples we examined. This group of plates is dated to the 14th-15th century, taking into account archaeometric analyzes as well as a few similar examples. Another of the findings we made within the scope of the thesis was on havruzs (potty seats). Among the examples of havruz, which are usually produced with double handles for ease of transportation, the one we examined in our thesis, which has survived to the present day, draws attention with its single handle. In addition, it was also determined that certain standards were observed in the production of cups, which constitute the most intensive production group of Kütahya ceramics, and that molds of similar sizes were used.In addition to all these, by tracing the ceramics recovered with tripod or defective productions and noting the finds of the period in which they were recovered, it was tried to identify the places in the city center that may indicate workshops. Keywords: Kütahya Museum, Kütahya ceramics, Turkish Period, archeometry, Ottoman Period.

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