OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1600

There are three Iznik dishes attributed to the late 16th Century in the Ashmolean Museum, the David Collection and in the Gulbenkian Collection which also have depictions of the fluid and playful animals found on our dish,(Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989., pls.546 and 548, p.257; Maria Queiroz Ribeiro, Iznik Pottery, Lisbon, 1996, no.87, pp.246-47). Looking at the group as a whole, one cannot help but wonder whether the majority of the group were done by the same inventive artist, with the slight differences accounted for by a development in his style over time. The small number of surviving vessels is such that it is certainly possible that it is the work of a single man.
An Iznik Dish previously in the Vincent Bulent Collection with almost the exact same depiction of the three larger animals found on our dish was sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2005, lot 67.