Guide
Iznik blue and the colours of Old Istanbul
The Iznik palette, cobalt blue, turquoise and the famous raised red, from 16th-century Ottoman tiles to vintage prints of Istanbul. How to bring the colours of Iznik to a wall.
Iznik, the old city of Nicaea in north-west Anatolia, made the finest Ottoman ceramics from the late 15th to the 17th century. Its tiles still cover the walls of Istanbul’s mosques and of the Topkapı Palace, and its colours are what many people picture when they think of Old Istanbul.
A palette built in stages
- Cobalt blue and white came first, inspired by Chinese porcelain.
- Turquoise joined it, then softer sage green and purple.
- A raised, tomato-like red appeared around the middle of the 16th century, laid on so thickly that it stands up from the glaze. It is the colour that makes Iznik instantly recognisable.
The great tile programmes of that period, such as the Süleymaniye and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, use all of them together: tulips, carnations, hyacinths and saz leaves on a white ground.
From tiles to prints
We use the Iznik palette as ink colours for pictures of the city and its gardens. A Mosque reprints Alberto Pasini’s Istanbul street in Iznik blue, red and aqua; Two Nightingales in a Rose Bush reprints an 18th-century Ottoman album leaf of two nightingales in cobalt blue, plum and aqua. The cyanotype Fountaine de la Sophie keeps Istanbul in a single deep blue.
How to use Iznik colours at home
Keep one strong blue as the anchor and let red appear only in small amounts, as it does on the tiles. White walls and natural wood suit these prints; three together make a calm row, as in our Istanbul in Blue room set.
