OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570

From the late 1520s Iznik potters began to imitate Chinese porcelains. Those copied were generally of the Yuan and early Ming dynasties of the 14th and 15th century, examples of which found their way in great quantities into the Islamic world. Of all the Chinese prototypes that existed in the Topkapi Palace collections and were copied by the potters at Iznik, it was the grape design that proved the most popular (for Ming examples see R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Museum Istanbul, vol.II, London, 1986, nos.605 and 606).

Whilst faithful to the aesthetic of their Chinese forerunners, Atasoy and Raby, in a long discussion on the group, write that the potters of Iznik were indifferent to their 'niceties' as is evidenced by their irregular treatment of the design which was allowed more freedom of interpretation than the original (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pp.121-124).

The Ottomans developed the palette of the original Chinese blue-and-white dishes by adding highlights of green in the leaves and borders as seen here. An Iznik ‘Grape’ dish of closely related size, design and palette – with a similar green that has bled slightly in the tendrils of the vine - is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv.91.1.102; Maryam D. Ekhtiar, Pricilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby and Navina Najat Haidar (eds.), Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011, p.302, no.213). That is attributed to circa 1570, and a similar date would seem likely for our dish.