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Lot Essay
There are seven identical tiles in the Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon (Calouste Gulbenkian Musée, Catalogue, Lisbon, 1982, p.191). Each is slightly wider at one end than the other, indicating that they formed a shallow arch over a window or doorway. The size of the present tile is remarkable, which, with its strength of colour, indicates it must have been made for one of the most impressive of all Iznik tiled pottery interiors.
The combination of areas of undecorated white with areas of floral designs set against a cobalt blue ground and coupled with a very strong red is reminiscent of the three larger Iznik spherical hanging ornaments dating from around 1575-85 in the British Musuem, the Brooklyn Museum and in the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar (Carswell, John: Iznik, Pottery for the Ottoman Empire, Qatar, 2003, no.29, pp.100-103).
The combination of areas of undecorated white with areas of floral designs set against a cobalt blue ground and coupled with a very strong red is reminiscent of the three larger Iznik spherical hanging ornaments dating from around 1575-85 in the British Musuem, the Brooklyn Museum and in the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar (Carswell, John: Iznik, Pottery for the Ottoman Empire, Qatar, 2003, no.29, pp.100-103).