Iznik Tile with Inscription

This scalloped tile roundel from the Ottoman period (10th-11th century AH/16th century CE) is part of a set of eight Iznik tiles with inscriptions. They were most probably used as an interior decoration set in the pendentives supporting a dome on four arches of a mosque.
This tile is of circular form with a lobed border decorated with trefoils at their inner points. The surface is covered with a white slip decorated in cobalt blue and terracotta red. The inscription on this tile is painted in white colour with fine black outlines reading Abu Bakr in tuluth script.
The practice of decorating Ottoman buildings with ceramic roundels containing the names of Allah, Muhammad, the first four Caliphs or the two sons of ‘Ali and Fatima, can also be seen in the mosque of Rustem Pasha (1561 CE), the Süleymaniye mosque (1550-1557 CE) in Istanbul or the Selimiye mosque (1569-75 CE) in Edirne.