OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1580

Details

AN IZNIK POTTERY DISH
Ottoman Turkey, circa 1580
With sloping cusped rim on short foot, the white interior painted under the clear glaze with two extended blue and green saz leaves forming figure-of-eight motifs enclosing palmettes linked by tendrils, in a stylised wave and rock border, the exterior with green and blue rosettes alternating with similarly coloured groups of three circular flowerheads, a number of clean repaired breaks
11½in. (29.2cm.) diam.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

The two curling leaves of this dish create a remarkable movement within the field. A single very similar leaf is found on a dish in the Barlow Collection (Fehérvári, Géza: Islamic Pottery, a Comprehensive study based on the Barlow Collection, London, 1973, no.223, p.160 and pl.95b). The complexity of interlace can be compared to the famous saz leaf tiles in the Rüstem Pasha mosque, Istanbul (Otto-Dorn, Katerina: Türkische Keramik, Ankara, 1957, pl.59), but the drawing, with all the smaller leaflets coming away fromt he main leaf is closer to the magnificent earlier blue and white dish with bird in Vienna (Atasoy, Nurhan and Raby, Julian: Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pl.312).

More from ISLAMIC ART AND MANUSCRIPTS

View All