86
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
tion of bis Services to art, in reviving Persian ceramic
designs.
Reference should here be made to tbe notice in a previous
portion of the Report of the display made by* Deck,
and to the section upon Enamelled Terra-cotta, etc.
Tiles from India.
Several collections of ancient tiles were forwarded from
India, most of them being taken from tombs at Tatta, and
from a ruined fortress near the same place on the Buggar,
a Western brauch of the Indus, built in the year a. d.
1421. The following account of the method of making
tiles is taken from notes sent on by the Local Committee
in India.
Tiles are prepared in moulds, and when dried are rubbed
over with a piece of wet cloth, and beaten with an earthen
maul for the purpose of smoothing the surface. They are
then kept for two or three days, or more, tili they become
sufficiently firm; and, after having been cut to the proper
size, are piled in layers in the suu to dry.
The tiles, having been sun-dried, may then be sent to
the kiln, after which the required pattem is traced upon
them in the following manner: " A perforated paper pattem
is placed upon the surface and powdered charcoal
is sprinkled over it. On removiug the paper the pattern
remains on the earthenware, and is then brushed over with
a solution called 'Sahree.’ When this is dry, glaze of the
required color is prepared and poured over it; the article
is then allowed to dry again, after which it is placed in the
glazing kiln and fired.” The "Sahree” appears to be a colored
clay differing from the body of the tile.
The use of colored tiles in Indian architecture is referred
to the third period, beginning with the Sur dynasty in
1540, when colored decoration was first introduced with
boldness.
" The System of encaustic tiling had been introduced
about the end of the thirteenth Century in Persia, where
the ruined mosque of Tabreez is said still to glow with a
most elaborate pattern and hue. The first fine specimen of
this art in Upper India seems to be the Killa Kona mosque,
