OTTOMAN, CIRCA 1575

This dish relates very closely to a blue and white group of wares labelled by Atasoy and Raby as the “Wheatsheaf style” and dated to between 1570 and 1575 (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.239). Although lacking the ears of wheat after which the group is named, our dish displays the characteristic meandering floral stems with cloud-like patterns encircling a central rosette found on other published dishes and reflecting a noted Chinese influence (op. cit., cat.441 and cat.443, p.241). Also taking inspiration from Chinese wares is the stylised breaking wave motif adorning the rim which became a standard feature of Iznik dishes. Originating from the Yuan dynasty, the motif became increasingly removed from its Chinese model through Turkish potters allowing for us to accurately date the motifs of our dish to a very similar 'wheatsheaf style' dish from 1575 in the David Collection (Kjeld von Folsach, Islamic Art, The David Collection, 1990, cat.181, p.124). The treatment of the underside of the dish, with the repeated rosettes and near-fleur-de-lys motifs is very similar to that of a dish in the Ömer Koç collection (Hülya Bilgi, Iznik: The Ömer Koç Collection, Istanbul, 2015, p.385, cat.165.).