OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1560

This dish is a later survival of the blue and white flower scroll design that first appears at Iznik in around 1530 (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, London, 1989, nos.198-202, pp.122-23). Originally based on the elegant scrolling lotus vine on early Ming models, particularly those of the Xuande period, it was a design that swiftly became popular in Iznik. This dish demonstrates the continuation of the taste both for Chinese models and for a blue and white colour scheme into the second half of the 16th century.