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Lot Essay
There is very little documentary evidence for the stages in development of pottery design at Iznik during the periods between the blue, white and turquoise stages and the emergence of the fully fledged "Rhodian" palette of bright red and green in around 1565. This latter date is confirmed by the increase in tilework commissions from that point on in dateable buildings. Within this period the only firm point is the mosque lamp signed by Musli, now in the British Museum, which is dated 1549 AD (Atosay, N. and Raby, J.: Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pl.355). Yet this is the period of the most influential innovations of the boldest and most striking designs, the changes coming one after the other in quick succession.
The present bottle has a sage-green colour as well as the turquoise and cobalt-blue of the earlier pieces. It does not however include the manganese which is usually found in small quantities in vessels associated with the potter Musli (Atasoy and Raby: op.cit, pls. 232-241 and 356-8). And while the group of vessels associated with Musli in that magnum opus are almost all dated to 1545-50, there is one notable exception, a bottle in the Bruschettini Foundation which is dated to 1535-45. That bottle shares many features with the "Musli" group including the floral drawing style and the filling of turquoise panels with interlaced black arabesques. (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls.246 and 367). The present bottle is painted with saz leaves and rosettes, in contrast to the vertical floral sprays of the Bruschettini bottle. On the other hand, one link is demonstrated by the particularly complex interlace band around the shoulder which is identical on the two bottles. A further bottle in Paris has many similarities to the Bruschettini bottle but is less adventurous in design. (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pl.159). It does however show an interesting variant on the shoulder interlace band. While at first sight it looks identical, it is in reality a pure plait and probably represents the source of our band.
The composition of the main bands of decoration is also very close to that of the exterior of three of the "Musli" large bowls (Atasoy and Raby: op.cit, pls.232-234 and 356-8). In contrast to those bowls however the decoration is a little more static, held as if in a lattice by the perfectly symmetrical rosettes, rather than placing all the largest motifs on diagonals as in the three large bowls. Interestingly the Musli bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum also uses the complex interlace band seen on the shoulders of this and the Bruschettini bottle, but around its foot. In this respect the drawing is closer to that of certain blue, white and turquoise vessels in the so-called "potters" style of 1525-40 (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls.180-182).
One of the things that characterises the Musli vessels is a brilliant shiny glaze. They gleam in a way that demonstrates the rapid technical developments of the 1540's. The blue and white vessels and tiles of the 1530's and earlier have a clear but very slightly matt surface. The brilliance of the new innovations enhances the colours considerably. The present bottle has a surface much more akin to those of the "pomegranate and artichoke" dishes dateable to 1540-45, which also employ exactly the same palette as that seen here. These technical features therefore exactly mirror the stylistic observations made earlier; that this bottle was made at a point just as the most impressive of all the Iznik vessels were beginning to be made. It combines technical and stylistic features of the 1530's, but combined in a way to give a strong indication of the magnificence of the Musli vessels which developed a handful of years after this.
There are two minor points which deserve comment. One is the change in the turquoise tone between the majority of the vessel and the boss on the neck. On the neck it seems somewhat washed out. The reason for this is unclear, but it is a feature which is found on other bottles notably one in the Victoria and Albert Museum whose main design is an enlarged version of the band above the foot of our bottle (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pl.320). The more basic question of why plain colours were used for the boss in the first place, showing a marked preference for turquoise, a feature that continued even after that colour had almost ceased to be used (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls. 743 and 745), remains puzzling.
The other notable feature concerns the distribution of the motifs. A very careful examination of the bottle shows that when it was covered with its white slip, the decorator used a fine pointed tool lightly to incise in simple lines the major ornaments, to ensure they were correctly spaced. This can be seen clearly in some places, particularly the circular flowerheads above the plaited band on the shoulder. These lines show as slightly darker lines due to the thickness of the coloured glaze.
The present bottle has a sage-green colour as well as the turquoise and cobalt-blue of the earlier pieces. It does not however include the manganese which is usually found in small quantities in vessels associated with the potter Musli (Atasoy and Raby: op.cit, pls. 232-241 and 356-8). And while the group of vessels associated with Musli in that magnum opus are almost all dated to 1545-50, there is one notable exception, a bottle in the Bruschettini Foundation which is dated to 1535-45. That bottle shares many features with the "Musli" group including the floral drawing style and the filling of turquoise panels with interlaced black arabesques. (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls.246 and 367). The present bottle is painted with saz leaves and rosettes, in contrast to the vertical floral sprays of the Bruschettini bottle. On the other hand, one link is demonstrated by the particularly complex interlace band around the shoulder which is identical on the two bottles. A further bottle in Paris has many similarities to the Bruschettini bottle but is less adventurous in design. (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pl.159). It does however show an interesting variant on the shoulder interlace band. While at first sight it looks identical, it is in reality a pure plait and probably represents the source of our band.
The composition of the main bands of decoration is also very close to that of the exterior of three of the "Musli" large bowls (Atasoy and Raby: op.cit, pls.232-234 and 356-8). In contrast to those bowls however the decoration is a little more static, held as if in a lattice by the perfectly symmetrical rosettes, rather than placing all the largest motifs on diagonals as in the three large bowls. Interestingly the Musli bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum also uses the complex interlace band seen on the shoulders of this and the Bruschettini bottle, but around its foot. In this respect the drawing is closer to that of certain blue, white and turquoise vessels in the so-called "potters" style of 1525-40 (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls.180-182).
One of the things that characterises the Musli vessels is a brilliant shiny glaze. They gleam in a way that demonstrates the rapid technical developments of the 1540's. The blue and white vessels and tiles of the 1530's and earlier have a clear but very slightly matt surface. The brilliance of the new innovations enhances the colours considerably. The present bottle has a surface much more akin to those of the "pomegranate and artichoke" dishes dateable to 1540-45, which also employ exactly the same palette as that seen here. These technical features therefore exactly mirror the stylistic observations made earlier; that this bottle was made at a point just as the most impressive of all the Iznik vessels were beginning to be made. It combines technical and stylistic features of the 1530's, but combined in a way to give a strong indication of the magnificence of the Musli vessels which developed a handful of years after this.
There are two minor points which deserve comment. One is the change in the turquoise tone between the majority of the vessel and the boss on the neck. On the neck it seems somewhat washed out. The reason for this is unclear, but it is a feature which is found on other bottles notably one in the Victoria and Albert Museum whose main design is an enlarged version of the band above the foot of our bottle (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pl.320). The more basic question of why plain colours were used for the boss in the first place, showing a marked preference for turquoise, a feature that continued even after that colour had almost ceased to be used (Alasoy and Raby, op.cit, pls. 743 and 745), remains puzzling.
The other notable feature concerns the distribution of the motifs. A very careful examination of the bottle shows that when it was covered with its white slip, the decorator used a fine pointed tool lightly to incise in simple lines the major ornaments, to ensure they were correctly spaced. This can be seen clearly in some places, particularly the circular flowerheads above the plaited band on the shoulder. These lines show as slightly darker lines due to the thickness of the coloured glaze.