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Second half of the 16th century which is named as the classical age of Turkish art during Ottoman rule, was the most magnificent period for ceramics as well as the other handcrafts.

The white paste products in ceramics which had started with the Blue-and-Whites had reached the summit of their developmental phases during 1549. The three lugged lamp, which originally belonged to the Omar Mosque in Jerusalem and which is now displayed in the British Museum, bears the production date and place on the inscription panel on its pedestal. This inscription reads Iznik -1549.

The most important final phase of the Turkish ceramic art also started with a three lugged lamp made for the Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul which was completed in 1557. This example is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. One of the richest collections of the world related to that period is kept in the Tiled Kiosk, Istanbul which has been converted into the Museum of Turkish Building Tiles and Ceramics. This third stage of our building tile and ceramic art continued until 1608. Iznik workshops applied underglaze technic during this period of extraordinary success which started with the Blue-and-Whites. This period attained a unique level in worldwide tile and ceramic art with its design and colour scale. The geometrical design of the Seljuk inheritance was completely dispensed with in the embellishments whereas the palmettes and leaves were still used. The plant motifs of the classical age were drawn on the white undercoats. A superficial abstraction is dominant in the naturalistic plant designs. The main examples of Nature motifs were carnations, tulips, plum blossoms and branches in full blossom, pomegranates, peonies, broken leaves, rosettes, roses, bunch of grapes, acanthus leaves, vases and birds with black, thin countermines. The colour scale on the artist's palette reached to seven different values with their various tones. The white, tile paste prepared with a great amount of silica is given form on the pottery lathe, then it is dried in the sun and baked in the oven at a degree of 800-1000+C. When it cools, a white, thin kaolin undercoat is applied. The decorations are drawn and coloured on this undercoat and then it is reovened to fix the colours. It is then glazed with thin, transparent lead-glass and the final baking takes place. The cobalt or sead blues, turquoises, manganese violets, chrome greens, slightly raised coral and tomato reds and their various tones on white ground which are painted underglaze, give a colour drunkenness to the admirers as well as the artist himself. There are no cracks on the glaze. Motion and dynamism are in full balance and symmetry both in the designs and the colours. Each motif is a whole in itself whereas it is also an unseparable part of the eternal whole. Celi and Nesih styles of calligraphy are often seen in these embellishments. The decorated surfaces of the Ottoman polychrome pottery made by underglaze technic are embellished with white and pale blue over either indigo or light brown. They are made with raised and coloured undercoat and black underglaze colouring is also seen. Thus, they have a special characteristic with these qualities. The coloured undercoat decoration technic under transparent, colourless glaze, has been successfully applied in building-tiles as well as pottery, as can be witnessed by an example displayed in the Tiled Kiosk Museum, Istanbul.

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