General Information

Turkish Istanbul Tophane workshops produced tobacco smoking pipes, coffe cups and some other vessels.

The sherd is very fine, and contains tiny laths of golden mica and rare lime grits. The usual color of the sherd is brownish orange, but may vary from yellowish-brown to dark red. Whether decorated or not, these pipes always have a burnished surface finished with orange-red engobe (except when they were in an aggressive post-depositional environment). The Tophane products are also very well known by their golden decorations. Due to the carefully managed firing conditions, all the vessels of this ware are of a high quality and are attractive.
The Tophane pipes are of two main shapes – disc based, dated the first half of nineteenth century, and lily shape, dated to the second half of the nineteenth century and until 1920's.

'Akko/Acre (Israel/Northern Coastal Plain)