Ceramics with Painted Decoration As I have discussed above, the Iranian semi porcelains in bowls and while and the cedalons are often decorated with purely Iranian motives as well as Chinese ones. Among the monochromes, we find not only blue but other colors, including dark brown. Sometimes the blue- of the decoration is supplemented by other colors, such as olive green and red- brown, the latter applied as a slip. The design of this ware, attributed to Kirman, Shiraz, and Isfahan, is usually floral in character, as may be seen in two plates in the Moore collection.
The Safavid style of Iranian ceramic art appears in all its splendour in large wall decorations composed of square tiles. Their use for wall decoration first became popular under Shah Abbas, although they must have been known earlier. Faience mosaics were not eliminated by glazed square tiles, for the two forms of decoration were often used together on the same building, as for instance on the mosque of shah Safi at Ardabil.
