Marbling, known as ebru in Turkish, involves transferring onto paper a design formed by paint sprinkled on water made thicker by additives such as gum tragacanth. The word ebru is thought to have derived from either ebri (Persian) meaning “cloud, nebulous”, or abru meaning “water surface”. In reality the design on marbled paper also resembles the clouds here and there. This art is called papier marbre in French owing to their marble-like veins. Arabs, on the other hand, call this art as waraq al mujezza meaning “veined paper”. Though its origins are unclear, marbled paper is thought to have been born in China, Turkistan or India. Iranian sources tell that Mir Mohammad Tahir, an Iranian artist, sent his marbled paper from India to Iran and thus spread the art in Iran. Iranian sources also mention that the art of marbled paper spread to Anatolia from Iran. Merchants, diplomats and travelers visiting Turkey in the 11th century became the means of passing this art to Europe, where it came to be known as the “Turkish paper”. Marbled paper was widely used in Italy, Germany, France and England. The Ottoman art of marbling found use in the early phases on thin paper for official state documents and various treaties. Indeed, the reason for this is to prevent any forgery just as it is the same with the checks and bills today. Later, the art of marbling took a prominent place amongst the Islamic arts. Turks devoted themselves to Islam with great faith and tried to express the “divine” beauties in all arts. It is observed that Turks were in search of mystic beauties in architecture, music and decorative arts. Most tekkes became art workshops, where youngsters were trained as apprentices by the masters.