Indian tiles : Architectural ceramics from Sultanate and Mughal India and Pakistan

"Historic India, which now encompasses the modern nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is celebrated for the richness of its architectural and decorative arts, but less well known for glazed tiles. Arthur Millner opens up this hitherto neglected subject with a richly illustrated narrative. Millner traces the craft's roots in Muslim Persia, Afghanistan and Central Asia, showing how imported glazing techniques combined with an ancient local tradition of clay craftsmanship. He explores the production, designs and influences in Indian tiles from antiquity to the colonial period, tracing the historical evolution through a series of key eras, including the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire in Northern India. Although glazed tiles are generally associated with Islam, they also briefly flourished in both Hindu strongholds, such as Gwalior and Orchha, and in Christian Portuguese-ruled Goa. More than four hundred photographs, many of little-known sites, are drawn from the author's years of travel as well as from colleagues, the V&A Museum archives and other celebrated institutions. These images capture the architectural context and beauty of the designs, providing a visual compendium of styles and techniques. Taken together they offer a unique chronicle of an environmentally threatened aspect of the region's cultural, artistic and religious evolution over centuries"--

ORIGINS
ANCIENT INDIA (EARLIEST TIMES–AD
T H E A R R I VA L O F I S L A M

THE DELHI SULTANATE
THE EARLY SULTANATE
A CENTURY OF TRANSITION

THE GREAT MUGHALS
AKBAR
JAHANGIR
SHAH JAHAN
AURANGZEB
THE LATER MUGHALS

THE REGIONAL STATES (1204–1947)
THE DECCAN
GOA
MALWA
THE HINDU STATES
BENGAL
MULTAN AND SINDH