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Lot Essay
In the 1560s, Iznik painters experimented with arrangements and compositions of typical floral motifs and colour variations with a view to enriching the decorative scheme of their pottery, particularly playing with symmetrical compositions of floral sprays (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.234).
The symmetrical arrangement of four floral sprays found is a less common composition only found on a small group of Iznik dishes. An Iznik dish decorated with a quatrefoil motif composed of tulips alternated with cobalt-blue roundels is in the Ömer Koç Collection (Hülya Bilgi, The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection, Istanbul, 2015, pp.320-1, no.132) and another was sold in these Rooms, 1 April 2021, lot 80, although both of these example employ red tulips rather than the striking cobalt-blue found here.
Moreover, the flowers decorating this dish are drawn on a much smaller scale and with greater control than the dishes of comparable design mentioned above. This dish rather shares its unusually fine drawing with a jug sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 161 and another formerly in the Barlow Collection which sold at Bonham’s, 29 April 2004, lot 193 (also published in Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.430). For an Iznik tile with similarly fine drawing, see lot 91 in the present sale.
The symmetrical arrangement of four floral sprays found is a less common composition only found on a small group of Iznik dishes. An Iznik dish decorated with a quatrefoil motif composed of tulips alternated with cobalt-blue roundels is in the Ömer Koç Collection (Hülya Bilgi, The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection, Istanbul, 2015, pp.320-1, no.132) and another was sold in these Rooms, 1 April 2021, lot 80, although both of these example employ red tulips rather than the striking cobalt-blue found here.
Moreover, the flowers decorating this dish are drawn on a much smaller scale and with greater control than the dishes of comparable design mentioned above. This dish rather shares its unusually fine drawing with a jug sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 161 and another formerly in the Barlow Collection which sold at Bonham’s, 29 April 2004, lot 193 (also published in Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.430). For an Iznik tile with similarly fine drawing, see lot 91 in the present sale.