Tea Set Collection of Multani Pottery
The intricate tile work from Multan is called Kashi Kari. You will also see it written Kashikari, Kashigari, or simply Kashi. All of these refer to the same craft: the enamelled, hand painted tile work that covers the domes, facades and interiors of Multan’s shrines and mosques.
If you have searched for the name of the intricate tile work from Multan and found a dozen different spellings, that is why. The craft is older than its English transliteration, and nobody ever agreed on one.
What Kashi Kari actually means
Kashi is the term applied to enamelled work laid over a terracotta base. Kari simply means work or craftsmanship, so Kashi Kari is the work of making Kashi.
The name itself is a clue to the craft’s route, and it is traced two ways. One derivation is Kashan, the Persian city long associated with glazed tile, where this style of ceramic was developed before craftspeople carried it east into Sindh and Punjab. The other is Kashgar in western China, a stop on the same trade corridors. Either way the mosaic technique reached Multan through Iran, and both derivations are stated in the sources.
How it first arrived is told two ways, and both are widely stated. One account places it with the Arab conquest: when Muhammad Bin Qasim took Multan in 712 AD he is said to have brought skilled Kashi artists with him. The other traces the glazed tile tradition to Persia and Central Asia, arriving along Silk Road routes and flourishing centuries later under the Mughals. We give both because both appear in the sources, and the evidence does not settle cleanly on one date.
Multani tiles are not painted after firing. The pigment goes on, then the glaze, then the kiln, and the colour fuses into the surface. That is why centuries-old panels on Multan’s shrines still hold their blue while the plaster around them has worn away.
The patterns have names
This is the part most descriptions skip. Kashi Kari is not freehand decoration, it is a defined vocabulary, and the patterns divide into two families.
Geometric patterns include stars, crosses, lozenges, meanders, pentagons, hexagons, decagons and isometric tessellation. These are the forms that let a flat tile repeat across a curved dome without the pattern breaking, which is a harder problem than it looks.
Floriated patterns include the shamsa, a sun or rosette motif, along with scrolls, tendrils, circles and rosettes. These soften the geometry and usually carry the white against the blue.
A third element, used mostly on architecture rather than tableware, is Islamic calligraphy, worked into bands and panels.
The colours, and why they are so narrow
Cobalt blue, turquoise and white carry nearly all of Kashi Kari. Cobalt gives the deep blue the craft is named for in English, copper-based pigments give the turquoise, and the white glaze provides the ground the patterns sit against.
That restraint is deliberate and it is old. The palette was set by what minerals were available and what fired reliably, and it stuck. It is also the reason Multani tiles are recognisable at a glance from across a courtyard.
Where to see Multani tile work
The best Kashi Kari in Multan is on its shrines, not in shops.
The tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is the one to see first. Its dome and drum carry Kashi Kari at full architectural scale, and standing underneath it is the clearest explanation anyone can give of what this craft is for. The shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya nearby carries it too.
Walk the old city and you will keep finding smaller panels: doorways, niches, fragments set into later brickwork. Multan has been repairing itself with its own tiles for a very long time.
How Multani tiles relate to blue pottery
They are the same craft in several shapes, and the difference is the body underneath.
The workshops that produce Kashi Kari tiles also produce vessels, and often on the same day with the same pigments and the same kilns. The main difference is the body underneath: architectural Kashi work is traditionally built on a terracotta base, while the vessels most people buy today, the tea sets and vases, use a harder quartz-based body that suits tableware better.
Sindhi blue pottery, centred on Hala, is a third case: it is made on a terracotta clay body like the architectural tile work rather than on Multan’s quartz body, which is part of why Sindhi pieces feel different in the hand.
So when people ask whether Multani tiles and Multani blue pottery are the same thing, the honest answer is that they come from the same hands, the same tradition and the same colour vocabulary, and differ mainly in what they are built on and what they are for. Terracotta for tiles and for Sindhi work, quartz for Multani tableware.
Buying Multani tiles today
Tile work is still made in Multan, both for restoration of historic buildings and for private commissions: panels, borders, house numbers, inset work for courtyards and bathrooms.
It is slower and more expensive than printed ceramic tile, for the obvious reason that each piece is painted by hand. It is also the only version that will look like the shrines, because printed tile cannot reproduce the depth of a fused glaze.
Our workshop makes the vessel side of the craft rather than architectural tile, and you can see the current range in our shop. If you want tile work specifically, come to the factory in Multan and we will point you to the people who do it, because the tile makers and the pottery makers all know each other here.
For the longer history of how this craft reached Multan and survived, see our article on the legacy of Kashigari in Multan and Sindh, and for the wider regional picture, our guide to the handicrafts of Pakistan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the name for the intricate tile work from Multan?
Kashi Kari, also written Kashikari or Kashigari. It is the enamelled, hand painted tile work found on Multan’s shrines and mosques.
What is the name of the intricate tile work from Multan in one word?
Kashi. The full term for the craft is Kashi Kari, meaning the work of making Kashi.
Is there another name of intricate tile work from Multan?
The craft answers to several spellings. Kashi Kari, Kashikari and Kashigari are all used, and locally people often just say Kashi. Searches for the intricate tile work from Multan name, or the name of intricate tile work from Multan, all lead to the same craft.
Is calligraphy used in Multani tile work?
Yes. Islamic calligraphy appears in bands and panels on architectural Kashi Kari, far more often than on tableware, and sits alongside the geometric and floriated patterns rather than replacing them.
Does Kashi come from Kashan or Kashgar?
Both are published. Kashan is a Persian city known for glazed tile and is the derivation most often given in craft scholarship; Kashgar in western China is the other. Both sit on the same trade route and both pass through Iran.
What does Kashi mean?
Kashi refers to enamelled work applied over a terracotta base. The name is traced to Kashgar in western China, on the trade routes the style travelled.
Where did Multani tile work come from?
The mosaic technique came to Multan from Iran, and the style spread through Persian and Central Asian trade routes before settling in the city. Two arrival stories circulate: one puts Kashi artists in Multan with Muhammad Bin Qasim in 712 AD, the other places the glazed tile tradition here centuries later under Persian and Mughal influence. Both are stated in the sources.
Was Multani tile work really brought in 712 AD?
That is one of the two accounts. It holds that Muhammad Bin Qasim was accompanied by Kashi artists when he took Multan in 712 AD. The competing account dates the glazed tile craft considerably later. Neither is settled, so we give both rather than pick one.
Is Sindhi blue pottery made the same way?
Not quite. Sindhi blue pottery, centred on Hala, uses a terracotta clay body, closer to architectural tile work than to Multan’s quartz-bodied tableware. Hala is also known for Ajrak block printing.
What patterns are used in Kashi Kari?
Geometric forms such as stars, crosses, lozenges, meanders, pentagons, hexagons, decagons and isometric tessellation, plus floriated motifs including the shamsa, scrolls, tendrils and rosettes.
Are Multani tiles and blue pottery the same thing?
They are the same craft in different forms. Tiles are traditionally built on a terracotta base, while vessels such as tea sets use a quartz-based body, but both use the same cobalt and turquoise palette and the same hand painting.
Where can I see Multani tile work?
The tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam in Multan is the most complete example, along with the shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya and panels throughout the old city.