Mosaic Tile

Mosaic tile and its history: 

The tile is an art in which small pieces of tiles are put together. This art was welcomed from the Seljuk period, i.e. the fourth century of Hijri. The peak of its prosperity was in the Timurid period, when the cities of Isfahan, Yazd, Herat, and Samarkand became the main centers of this art. The mosaic tiles in the Jame Mosque of Yazd, the Blue Mosque of Tabriz, and the Green Dome of Kerman, which is the oldest example of mosaic tiles and belongs to the 7th century AH, are among the most beautiful mosaic tiles in the historical architecture of Iran. In addition, the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad, the Shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (AS) in Qom, and the Shrine of Hazrat Shahcheragh (AS) in Shiraz are a treasure of various mosaic designs due to their development in different periods.

Patterns and Designs:

Only two colors were used in the initial designs of mosaic tiles. Gradually, other colors and bricks were added to the composition of mosaic tile designs. Marble tile, like wood marble, is the result of putting together cut pieces of tile. Different designs of marble tiles can be divided into two categories: geometric designs or knots, and plant designs.

Production:

To produce marble tiles, first the design is drawn on paper to a one-to-one scale, and the colors of each part are determined. Then, the paper is graded and zoned so that its different pieces can be identified after cutting the paper. In the next step, the cut papers are pasted on the glazed clay tiles, and the clay tiles are cut based on the paper pattern. The process of cutting tile clays includes several parts, including lipping, drilling, grinding or grinding, filing or polishing, and seeding. At the end, the cut pieces are put together, and then mortar is poured so that the tile pieces are connected together and ready to be installed.

Application:

Since the mosaic tile is created by putting small pieces of tile together, it has a suitable flexibility for curved surfaces such as garlands, formalization, trains, moqrans, and domes. In addition, the high thickness of the mosaic tile after mortaring, which is close to 5 cm, makes this type of decoration very durable against temperature changes on the external surfaces.