The Kangaroo in Art – An Investigation of the Kangaroo-Formed Bibelots In ？anakkale Ceramics in the Ottoman Period

Pottery, which is known to have been produced over a long period of time from the 15th century to the beginning of the 20th century, has survived to the present day due to the existence of specific production centers. A few of the most important of these centers, ？znik, Kütahya and ？anakkale completely fill the time period from the establishment of the Ottoman state to its demise. The ceramics produced during Ottoman period in the 16th and 17th centuries had their greatest times not only in technical aspects but also artistic aspects. Iznik became the center of ceramic production in this period. From the 17th century onwards, negative changes in colors and glazes were observed. Improvements in quality decreased over time, and in the 18th century began to decline completely. Kütahya, which produces separately from ？znik, stands out as an important ceramic center in this period. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, ？anakkale was known as another center of production alongside Kütahya ceramics. With the decline of ceramic production in Kütahya, ？anakkale ceramics gained importance. There were many closed (cube, jar, jug, etc.) and open (plate, bowl etc.) ceramics produced in ？anakkale. In addition to these types of ceramics, animal shaped vessels called trinkets were found. Among the most noteworthy animal-shaped vessels are those forms that we call “kangaroo”. Given that these kangaroo forms (which are not typically rendered in Turkish art) appeared so suddenly in ？anakkale ceramics and these forms haven’t previously been researched, this has formed the basis of our research. The first aim of this study is to pinpoint the timeline in which the kangroos, whose habitta is Australia, emerged in the world art. Furthermore, it was aimed to determine from who and from where they were affected in the process in which kangaroo shaped figurines seen in ？anakkale, which is one of the important ceramic centers of the Ottoman period, were turned into ceramic figurines. When we look at previous studies on this subject, we can see that only general information is given about ？anakkale ceramics and that there is no detailed information available regarding this subject in scientific sources