OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1585-90

The last quarter of the 16th century saw the perfection of the use of the raised bole-red colour that we see employed so masterfully on this dish. The thick red was difficult to control and initial efforts produced mixed results. The tiles produced in around 1561 for the Mosque of Rüstem Pasha contained areas of red which were not fully controlled after firing and therefore lost the intensity of their colour, (Walter Denny, The Mosque of Rüstem Pasha and the Environment of Change, New York, 1977). The beauty of our dish comes as a result of the perfected ability to control the contours of the bole-red to produce a precise and masterfully drawn floral design.

A dish in the Musée National de la Céramique in Sèvres which has a very similar design composed of fleshy curved saz leaves weaving in and out of palmettes and large rosettes is also dated by Walter Denny to circa 1585-90, (Walter B. Denny, Iznik. The Artistry of Ottoman Ceramics, London, 2004, p.118). The control of the design on our dish is further complemented by the strong full bodied red colour achieved in the glaze. Later attempts with bole-red would produce a glaze of a duller rust colour which does not match the intensity of our dish. Few dishes with bole-red grounds were produced. One with a similar floral design set on a striking red ground dated to the same period was sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 268.