PERA MUSEUM / KÜTAHYA TILES AND CERAMICS

Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°01'54.4"N 28°58'30.1"E / 41.031788, 28.975019



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Visiting Hours : Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 - 19:00 / Sunday 12:00 - 18:00. The museum is closed on Monday.

A CULTURAL ENDEAVOR OF THE SUNA AND INAN KIRAÇ FOUNDATION

The Pera Museum, which opened its doors in early June 2005, is the first step of a comprehensive cultural endeavor that the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation has launched at this distinguished venue in the city for the purpose of providing cultural service on a variety of levels.

An historical structure which was originally constructed in 1893 by the architect Achille Manoussos in Tepebaşı (İstanbul's most prestigious district in those days) and which was, until rather recently, known as the Bristol Hotel, was completely renovated to serve as a museum and cultural center for the project. Transformed into a fully-equipped modern museum, this venerable building is now serving the people of İstanbul once again.

The first and second floors of the Pera Museum house three permanent collections belonging to the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, with the Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül Gallery on the second floor. The third, fourth, and fifth floors are devoted to multipurpose exhibition spaces. There is an auditorium and lobby in the basement and on the ground floor are the reception desk and Perakende - Artshop and a cafe.

A large part of the first of the two museum floors above the ground floor displays choice examples from the foundation's collection of Anatolian Weights and Measures for the benefit of those who are in love with history and archaeology. Made from many different materials using many different techniques, these objects show the development of the devices used to weigh and measure in Anatolia since the earliest times.

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's collection of Orientalist art consists of more than three hundred paintings. This rich collection brings together important works by European artists inspired by the Ottoman world from the 17th century to the early 19th.

This collection, which presents a vast visual panorama of the last two centuries of the Ottoman Empire, includes works by Osman Hamdi, regarded by art historians as the genre's only "native Orientalist" and of course his most famous painting The Tortoise Trainer. Many paintings from the private collections of the late Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül have also entered the foundation's permanent collection. It is planned to exhibit the collection in the Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül Gallery dedicated to their name in a series of long-term thematic exhibitions.

 The first of these, which opened in early June 2005, is called "Portraits from the Empire" and consists of portraits of sultans, princes, and other members of the Ottoman imperial family as well as of foreign ambassadors together with other "portraits" in the general sense, showing people from many different periods and walks of life.

In addition to its function as a private museum in which to display the collection of the family, the Pera Museum is also intended to provide the people of İstanbul with a broad range of cultural services as a modern cultural center located in a vibrant part of the city and equipped with multipurpose exhibition spaces, an auditorium and lobby, and activity spaces for visitors.

KÜTAHYA TILES AND CERAMICS

A large part of the first of the two museum floors above the ground floor in another wing is the foundation's collection of Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics, whose strikingly beautiful pieces seek to shed new light on an area of creativity in our cultural history that is not very well known.

The Collection

The beginnings of the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection date back to the 1980s, and over the years it has grown to become one of the most outstanding collections of its kind. Today the collection consists of over 800 remarkable pieces representing various periods, especially the 18th - 20th centuries. The limited number of pieces on display have been chosen to give a general idea of the collection and the craftsmanship of Kütahya ceramics.

After İznik, Kütahya was Ottoman Turkey's most important centre of ceramic production. Thanks to abundant deposits of clay in the area, ceramics were made here in large quantities in Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times, and the traditional techniques of this art have survived to the present day. Although little research into ceramics produced in Kütahya during the early Ottoman and pre-Ottoman Turkish periods has as yet been carried out, recent finds and publications suggest that the industry essentially parallelled that of İznik.

The earliest known Kütahya ceramics are monochrome glazed bricks decorating the minaret balcony of Kurşunlu Mosque dated 1377, and tiles on the cenotaph and floor of the Tomb of Yakup II of the Germiyanoğlu principality dated 1428 and located in the imaret founded by the same ruler. Kütahya ceramics continued to be manufactured over the next centuries, the finest quality examples dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.

A decline in quality is observable from the second half of the 18th century, but there was a revival in the late 19th century, and with state support during the second quarter of the 20th century, this traditional ware has survived to the present day.

Kütahya ceramics stand somewhere between İznik ceramics, which primarily represented Court Art, and Çanakkale ceramics, which are usually regarded as 'Folk Art. The potters of Kütahya produced a wide range of tiles for architectural decoration and household pottery that was sold widely throughout the country. In terms of both the volume and continuity of production, Kütahya ceramics are a very significant area of Ottoman craftsmanship.

Forms and Motifs

Stylised floral motifs, religious motifs and human and animal figures decorate most of the 18th century tiles and ceramics in the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection. The pieces dating from this period have a white or cream coloured paste, white slip and transparent glaze. The motifs are painted underglaze in green, turquoise, yellow, cobalt blue and, from the mid-18th century onwards, manganese purple, the motifs being outlined in black.

A second group of Kütahya ware consisting of dishes, lemon squeezer, bowls, bottles, plates and cups dating from the 18th century are decorated with stylised flowers, leaves and curling tendrils in cobalt blue, with the occasional addition of yellow, green or turquoise. Ewers and jugs of various shapes and sizes are decorated with cypress tree motifs in relief, circular crosshatched medallions and floral scrolls worked in free brushstrokes.

One of the foremost characteristics of the Ottoman Empire was the tolerant attitude and absence of discrimination on grounds of religion, race or culture. Consequently Muslim and Christian potters work together in Kütahya producing objects designed to meet the needs of both communities. Striking examples in this exhibition are pottery and tiles with motifs relating to the Christian liturgy.

Kütahya's contribution to architectural decoration over the centuries is illustrated by tiles dating from various periods in the last section of the exhibition, showing how Kütahya pottery set its mark to Ottoman society at every level, from coffee cups to monumental building decoration.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Pera Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : info@peramuzesi.org.tr
Phone : +90 212 334 9900
Fax : +90 212 245 9512

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

YILDIZ TILE AND PORCELAIN IMPERIAL FACTORY MUSEUM

Yıldız, Beşiktaş - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°02'54.6"N 29°01'05.5"E / 41.048508, 29.018190



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Hand decoration and also technical decoration is used overwhelmingly in the garnishes of the porcelains produced in Yıldız Porcelain Factory. For hand decorated products, productions are made according to the domestic orders and orders from abroad.

The facility inside the historical Yıldız Park is totally 10500 square meters, inside this area there is Managing Building, Administrative Building, a building containing Hand Decorated-Sieve Press and Boiler Room, Transformer and Generator Building, Granary Building, Store and Nizamiye (military control station). And the total closed area is 5200 square meters.

In the facility hard porcelain heated at 1380° C, is produced. 85 % of these productions are dishes and 15 % are Hand Decorated porcelains. While Hand Decorated porcelains are all decorated with hand, primary goal is to keep alive and enrich the Turkish Decoration Art and by carrying this culture and tradition from past to future to make it live for generations.

Besides, the stickers produced with press technique in the facility, are used in decorating dishes. And in the facility tile production is also continued. Tile tradition is maintained by single colored and poly-colored, under glazed and upper glazed tiles.

Yıldız Tile Factory or with its name at that period Çini Fabrika-i Hümayünu, which was established by Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) in 1890 at the suggestion of the French Ambassador M. Paul Cambon, was indeed the result of the palace decoration needs in the 19. Century. At this period, there was a high demand for porcelain especially in the Court and its surrounding. As a result of this demand, large amounts of porcelain were imported at high prices from European countries. This must have been an important factor in the establishment of the factory.

Çini Fabrika-i Hümayünu, was built on a flat area in the garden of Yıldız Palace with the initiative of the dynasty itself. Special personnel from the factories of Sevres and Limoges in France assisted in setting up the factory and the latest European technology including tile moulds were also imported. Nevertheless, after two years from the construction of the building, the factory making test productions suffered damages in the Istanbul earthquake in 1894. The same year it was repaired by famous Italian architect Raimondo d’Aronco and opened to service again.

In Çini Fabrika-i Hümayünu which was in fact a palace work-shop, beginning from 1894, in addition to decorative works like vases, wall plates also lavmana, desk sets, card plates, lidded bowls, cooking pans, aşure jugs, watermelon shaped sugar bowls, tea and cup sets began to be produced. The main subjects of these works were portraits of sultans, panoramas of Istanbul, figures of women and children, mythological-allegorical scenes, Rumi motifs and country views in rococo style.

On some of them, on corner or under the artifact, name of the craftsman presents. Under or in one corner of some artifacts, there are emblem of the Ottoman, initials of sultan’s name and his tugra (ımperial seal of the sultan). The porcelains manufactured at the Yıldız Tile Imperial Factory, which is an Imperial factory like Hereke Factory, have been used primarily for decorations of palaces, kiosks and pavilions of the late Ottoman Empire and presented as gifts to foreign royalties.

The decorators included many important painters like Hazret-i Şehriyari Ali Ragıp, Enderuni Abdurahman, Ömer Adil, A. Nicot, E. Narcice, L’Avergne, Tharet. Consequently Çini Fabrika-i Hümayünu whose primary aim was to produce decorative porcelains for the palace and Court circles played a significant role in the development of Turkish painting art.

Many native and foreign craftsmen worked at the Factory. Halid Naci, one of the most important craftsmen among them, was sent to Sèvres Porcelain Factory in order to be trained. Naci, who learned tile painting there, was appointed as the head painter of the Yıldız Tile Factory. He managed painting and ornamentation works of the factory through long years and put his signature under many artifacts. The artifacts, created during the first years of the factory, were under influence of French porcelains in terms of shape and ornament.

Manufacturing at Yıldız Tile Imperial Factory was suspended with dethronement of Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1909. The factory reopened with the efforts of its former managers, began to produce kaolin insulators for linking telegram lines. Osman Hamdi Bey, who was the manager of Imperial Museum, made an attempt for restarting manufacturing at the factory which was attached to the Imperial Museum Directorate in this period. Upon death of Osman Hamdi Bey in 1910, Halil Edhem Bey started preparations for reoperating Yıldız Tile Imperial Factory and manufacturing has commenced in 1911 once more.

After the new decision to close it 1920, it was liquidated by National Real Estate (Ulusal Emlak) in 1936 and as a result of the meetings to reopen it was transferred to Sümerbank. At this factory, porcelain cups, required for telephone and telgraph insulators, needed by the country during the First World War (1914-1918) were produced. The factory which continued manufacturing under the roof of Sümerbank during Turkish Republic Period, was attached to National Palaces Head of Department in 1944.

Since 1995 Yıldız Tile Factory is operating under the Department of National Palaces as a “museum-factory”. Today in the factory as well as porcelains designed with traditional patterns, reproduction of the original artifacts in the “National Palaces Porcelain Collection” are also made in limited numbers.

Yıldız Porcelain Factory, which today has a special position as a museum-factory among its kind, continues manufacturing of porcelain items appealing to taste of today’s individual on one hand, and on the other hand, by manufacturing replicas of the products manufactured during foundation years, develops projects to ensure the esthetic of the period to reach large masses. These products are offered to the interested persons at the shops within the body of National Palaces.

Brand Registration Of Yıldız Tile And Porcelain
Application to Turkish Patent Institute for renewal of the factory’s emblem and obtaining brand protection right, was accepted and brand registration was made for 10 years beginning from August 28, 2009.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Yıldız Palace Museum Directorate

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : yildizsarayimuzesi@kultur.gov.tr
Phone : +90 212 258 3080 / +90 212 260 8060
Fax : +90 212 258 3085

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.