On either side of the corridor leading from the entrance to the prayer room, are two much smaller and somewhat elevated rooms, with wonderful tiles all around. These were the lower section of the ‘Hünkâr mahfili’ (= lodge of the lord), a space reserved for the sultan or his representative; the more secluded part of this lodge is situated on the first floor, and has a balcony overlooking the prayer hall.

On the picture: One of the rooms of the Hünkâr mahfili’s lower section.
The wall tiles were locally produced, by artisans from Tabriz (Iran), under the supervision of Ali bin İlyas Ali, a ‘nakkaş’ (painter-designer) from Bursa, who had been sent to Samarkand by Timurlenk in 1402. Most tiles were made using the so-called ‘cuerda seca’ technique, followed by ingenious gilding patterns.

Cuerda seca: A brilliant but short lived episode in the history of Anatolian ceramic production was the appearance of tiles decorated in the ‘cuerda seca’ (="dry cord") technique. In the ‘cuerda seca’ process, thin bands of waxy resist maintain color separation between glazes during firing, but leave behind "dry cords" of unglazed tile. This technique seems to have been introduced to Turkey from Iran as early as the fourteenth century. These tiles are often distinguished by their curving shape. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) .

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Türkiye Tarihi Yerler Kılavuzu’ – M.Orhan Bayrak, Inkılâp Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1994 ; Wikipedia,
‘Vakıf Abideler ve eski Eserler’ - Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü III, Ankara 1983
& ‘Bursa - Turquie’ – booklet of the Bursa Müzeleri, 1980.