Iznik pottery
The ceramic collection of the Topkapi Palace includes over ten thousand pieces of Chinese porcelain but almost no Iznik pottery. Most of the surviving Iznik vessels are in museums outside Turkey, but examples of the city's tile production exist in numerous cities throughout Turkey, such as İstanbul, Bursa, Edirne and Adana. In Istanbul examples of Iznik tiling can be seen in mosques, tombs, libraries, and palace buildings, such as the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque, the tomb of Selim II in the Hagia Sophia complex, and certain buildings of the Topkapı Palace complex such as the Circumcision room and the Baghdad Kiosk.
Grand Palace
The ground floor of the museum displays a varied selection of artefacts. These included certain architectural elements, which were removed from various buildings within the Grand Palace during different renovations, as well as were the stone Buddha images and Chinese statues. They included many figures from Thai literature, the Ramakien, such as Suvannamaccha and Hanuman. The stone figures date from the reign of King Rama III, and were later moved to the museum to prevent damage. In the central hall are the bones of white elephants. These elephants were not actually white but have certain special characteristics such as pinkish colouring and cream eyes. The White elephant was an important symbol of kingship; the more the monarch possessed the greater was his prestige. This belief and veneration of the animal is common to many other South-east Asian cultures.