Ceramic tiles have been produced for over a thousand years in the heartlands of the Islamic world, from Iraq in the ninth century to Turkey in the nineteenth. The wealth of designs and colors used to decorate mosques, shrines and palaces later provided inspiration for European artists and designers. This book first explains the various techniques of the craftsmen, including the invention of lustre and the use of blue-and-white, and then traces the development of tilework, beginning with the pre-Islamic tradition, through the major periods and across a wide geographic area. Trends in tile decoration followed those of other forms of Islamic art, ranging from the influence of Chinese ornament to the glorification of the word of God through beautiful calligraphy. The illustrations are drawn primarily from the extensive collections of the British Museum, supplemented by examples of tilework which can still be seen on buildings throughout the Islamic lands.