(Maybe not exactly a travel question, but I hope it is on-topic here.)
Several years ago, while travelling across Montenegro, in one souvenir shop in Kotor and in one shop in Ulcinj I found very beatiful ceramic plates, tableware and other items:
I liked them very much, but they were somewhat expensive (~€20-30 for a big plate), so I bought several of them, not as much as I wanted. They bear no maker's mark of any kind (except for "Hand made 65" on one of them, shown on the photo above).
Later I saw them in one souvenir shop in my home city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (the shop specializes on `souvenirs from all over world'), but there were only a few of them and also expensive (approximately the same price).
Now I am on Cyprus, and here similar items are in each souvenir shop. Slightly cheaper, but not much cheaper.
After some googling, I find that this may be called Turkey Iznik ceramics (e.g., 1, 2), although Wikipedia page in Iznik pottery have no images of specifically this style, all images there are of a similar, but different style. I also remember finding some article on the Internet saying that Istanbul markets have a lot of such items for a really low prices, but I can not find that article now.
I will probably be in Istanbul next year, and was hoping that on some market I will find the same items, but much chaper than in souvenir shops, as the latter are always overpriced.
So, my questions are:
- Is that name Iznik ceramics/pottery correct? If not, what is the proper name for the items of this style? If yes, is there any more specific name?
- Where are they made?
- Can I buy them somewhere cheaper than in the shops where I have seen them? What typical prices should I expect?
Note that I am not speaking about authenticity, originality or whatever, all I want is to buy quality items of such style; that is if the items of this style are produced in several places nowadays, I do not mind which of them is `original'. Also I am not interested in similar, but different styles such as shown in Wikipedia article on Iznik pottery, or Uzbek pottery etc.