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Haft-rang ("seven colours") is a Persian term for a decorative technique for underglazed ceramic tiles. This decorative technique is also sometimes described as " cloisonné", " cuerda seca" or "black line". The process begins with the application of multiple colours on square tiles coated with a white glaze. The colours are delineated with black painting so that they do not bleed into each other. Finally, the whole tile is fired in one step. This technique is decorative and relatively easy to deploy, especially compared to Mo'araq, but it does not permit an optimum firing process for each of the colours. Hence the colours are weaker, less intense, less clearly delineated, and the glazes not as strong.
Timurid Haft-rang "cloisonné" tiles can be seen in the Ak-Saray Palace (1379–1396), the Bibi-Khanym Mosque (1398–1405), the Ulugh Beg Madrasa (Samarkand) and Ulugbek Madrasah (Bukhara) (1417–1420), the Ghiyathiyya Madrasa, the Zaynal-Din mausoleum (1444–1445), the Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami Mausoleum (1440–1441) or the Gawhar Shad Madrasa in Herat (1417-1438).
Haft-rang differs from Mo'araq (مُعَرَق, mosaic tiling) which is another decorative technique, using mosaic tilework, consisting in using small shards of glazed colored tile, chipped and assembled precisely together in order to form a given design. This techniques allows for long-lasting designs with vibrant colours, and is the oldest mosaic technique used in the Middle East. In case of the specific use of ceramics, the term kǎši-ye mo'araq can be used.
Haft-rang also sometimes refers to pottery glazed painting techniques in general, but in this case the designation of " Mina'i" ("enamelled" ware) is more often used.
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