apparent. The movement of fritware into China - whose monopoly on porcelain production had prompted the Islamic world to produce fritware to begin with - impacted Chinese porcelain decoration, deriving the signature cobalt blue colour from Islamic traditions of fritware decoration. The transfer of this artistic idea was likely a consequence of the enhanced connection and trade relations between the Middle and Near East and Far East Asia under the Mongols beginning in the 13th century. The Middle and Near East had an initial monopoly on the cobalt colour due to its own richness in cobalt ore, which was especially abundant in Qamsar and Anarak in Persia. Iznik pottery was produced in Ottoman Turkey beginning in the last quarter of 15th century AD. It consists of a body, slip, and glaze, where the body and glaze are 'quartz-frit'. The 'frits' in both cases "are unusual in that they contain lead oxide as well as soda"; the lead oxide would help reduce the thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic. Microscopic analysis reveals that the material that has been labeled 'frit' is 'interstitial glass' which serves to connect the quartz particles. The glass was added as frit and the interstitial glass formed on firing. In 2011, 29 potteries, employing a total of 300 persons, making fritware were identified in Jaipur. Applications Fritware served a wide variety of purposes in the medieval Islamic world. As a porcelain substitute the fritware technique was used to craft bowls, vases, and pots as both symbols of luxury as well as to more practical ends. It was similarly used by medieval tilemakers to craft strong tiles with a colourless body that provide a suitable base for underglaze and decoration Fritware was also known to be used to craft objects beyond simply pottery and tiling. It was also found to be used in the twelfth century to make objects like chess sets. There is also a tradition of using fritware to create intricate figurines, with surviving examples from the Seljuk Empire. It was also the use ceramic body for Islamic lustreware, a technique that puts a lustred ceramic glaze onto pottery. References Further reading "Technology of Frit Making in Iznik." Okyar F. Euro Ceramics VIII, Part 3. Trans Tech Publications. 2004, p. 2391-2394. Published for The European Ceramic Society. Pancaroğlu, O. (2007). Perpetual glory: Medieval Islamic ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection (1055933707 805629715 M. Bayani, Trans.).