Over the many years that this site is on the web I’ve always avoided putting pictures on display of a personal rather than a general interest, let alone pictures that can be seen as advertising. In 2018 I scanned slides, many of which were from well before I started this site (in 2003). I found that some had an almost historical value, a value that was probably greater for me myself, but still a value I might share. So sometimes you can now see me, on a scanned slide, sitting with a shepherd or a family, thus partly showing the landscape or an interior, partly showing myself rather more privately. And over many years I’ve made one exception on the “no advertising rule”, i.e. showing pictures I took at the workshop and shop of a master of his craft whom I met early in my travels, and have repeatedly visited since. Amongst the slides there were so many of value, that I decided to put them in a sub-gallery of their own. Still not as advertising (that is not necessary I think, and certainly not by me) but because the pictures show the earlier settings he has grown out of, and his work when he had only a single, and later a few, assistants. The work itself I always consider to be of the best. As for that, in several museums all over the country I have found output of the workshop in museum shops, and Mehmet regularly had expositions all over the world, so his mastership is widely recognized. Pupils of his win highest prizes in local competitions, they'll carry the workmanship on for decennia.

A word of explanation: Iznik çini is a type of earthenware, that can be seen in many museums, and reached a pinnacle in the 16th century. It refers to a place name, i.e. Iznik, where much of that ware was made, Later Kütahya took over as the main production town, and Mehmet Gürsoy decided to use Iznik çini as the name for his shop.

Another reason for this sub-gallery is that in 2018 I scanned slides from my earliest visits anew and found them much better than previous versions, a few of which I'd already put on my site. I decided to show more of them, and overwrite the earlier, poorer ones. The extra ones have 94 in their name (for 1994).