No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

Christophoros A. Nomikos (1883-1951) Was born into a family of Constantinopolitan origin. In 1907 he moved to Alexandria and worked in banking and the cotton business, becoming a member of the Greek literati group in Alexandria. He also became a member of the Amis de l'Art and in time became its president. He was the first Greek historian of the Arabs, writing that they shared a common historical background with the Greeks, also suffering from the same fate at the hands of the crusaders. His theories provided the ideological background for Greek Collectors of Islamic Art. In 1919 Nomikos was one of the first scholars to refute the idea that Iznik ceramics originated in Rhodes. A friend of the Greek poet Cavafy, he was the author of several books on Arab history, Iznik ceramics and Kutahya ware, published in the early 1920s. Of the Iznik wares shown at the 1925 Alexandria exhibition just over one third belonged to Nomikos.

AN IZNIK POTTERY DISH

OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1600

Details

AN IZNIK POTTERY DISH
OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1600
With sloping rim on short foot, the white interior with central roundel on green ground, with pair of affronted lions and below, a lion in profile looking out frontally, enclosed in alternating blue and red cusped motifs and radiating black stripes, the cavetto left plain, the rim with alternating wave and scroll in blue, black and green, the exterior with alternating green roundels and blue trefoils, rim and foot drilled, rim slightly fritted
12¼in. (31.2cm.) diam.

Provenance

Ch. A. Nomiko Collection, Alexandria

Literature

Gaston Migeon: Les Arts Musulmans, Alexandria, 1925, pl.30, p.12

Exhibited

Les Arts Musulmans, Alexandria, 1925

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A number of dishes are known with central roundels containing two, three or four animals (Geza Fehérvári: Islamic Potttery, A Comprehensive Survey based on the Barlow Collection, London, 1973, no.258, pl.104; Sotheby's Lagonico Collecion catalogue, 7 December 1991, lot 24; Sotheby's, London, 11 October 1989, lot 144; Christie's London, 20 October 1992, lot 143 and, very similar indeed to the present dish, Bonhams 11 October 2000, lot 586, amongst others). Please also see the note to lot 46.

More from IZNIK POTTERY: THE VINCENT BULENT COLLECTION

View All