Traditional Turkish Arts [antikvár]

CHAPTER I ART OF STONE ORNAMENTATION The brightest era of stone ornamentation in the history of Turks was the thirteenth century during the era of the Seljuks in Anatolia. The primary sources of Anatolian Seljuk omaments were based on the brick, plaster and terracotta omaments of the Great Seljuks in the Persian region, while the influences of the works of art fi'om the Syrian region and Zengid-Eyyubi period were also seen in the eleventh century during the time of Artuks in Southeastem Anatolia; in Diyarbakir, Silvan, and Mardin regions. On the other hand, stone reliefs were widely used for the architectural omaments of Ghazni, especially at Sultan Mesud's Palace. Marble reliefs were composed of calligraphy lines, figures, geometrical and vegetal embellishments. Because stone was not easily found in Khorasan and Persia, mostly brick and adobe were used as the building materials. Very rich brick decors were created by composing the brick in many different ways. The monuments reflected the most beautifiil examples of brick ornamentation with various motifs such as zigzag, fish bone, various geometrical figures, star, hexagon or octagon, and dovetail. Later, the richness of pattems was further increased The Courtyard of Diyarbakir Great (Ulu) Mosque -5-