A FINE RIMLESS IZNIK-STYLE POTTERY DISH
A FINE RIMLESS IZNIK-STYLE POTTERY DISH

QAJAR IRAN, 19TH CENTURY

Details
A FINE RIMLESS IZNIK-STYLE POTTERY DISH
QAJAR IRAN, 19TH CENTURY
On short foot, the exterior decorated with alternating paired tulips and cobalt-blue and manganese rosettes, plain blue bands around the rim and foot, foot drilled
12¼in. (30.5cm.) diam.
Sale room notice
Please note that the Gulf Cooperation Council has imposed a ban on the importation of Iranian goods to or via its member states. Please check with your shippers whether you will be able to ship Iranian artworks to the GCC member states prior to purchase.

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Lot Essay

This dish is a extremely fine copy of an Iznik vessel, very probably produced in Qajar Iran. It is directly inspired by Ottoman works from the 1530s and 1540s, such as a tile decorated with a cypress tree flanked by blue bells which sold at Christie’s, London, 23 April 2015, lot 159. The palette of sage green and aubergine glaze is that of the so-called ‘Damascus’ style which flourished in the 1540's.

The growing taste for Islamic art throughout the second half of the 19th century is in part due to the publication of surveys of ‘Oriental’ decorative motifs such as those of Owen Jones but also to the interest for the techniques and crafts that flourished in the Middle East, such as enamelled glass or polychrome faience. The Great Exhibitions held in Western Europe gave makers and artists of the time an international audience. Most European ceramicists such as Theodore Deck, Ulisse Cantagalli or Edme Samson produced good quality ceramics in the Iznik style which they clearly marked as their own production. They sometimes copied existing pieces – an Iznik ‘Grape’ dish by Deck and a large Iznik vase by Samson are exact copies of pieces in the British Museum (the two pieces sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 24 April 2015, lot 435 and 22 April 2016, lot 414). However good 19th century Iznik-style vessels were not always marked and it is unclear whether they were sold by later merchants as 16th century originals or 19th century copies.

The acquisition record of an Iznik-style dish at the Victoria and Albert Museum (125-1899) provides us with interesting information with regards to the origin of our piece. It was produced by a company based in Isfahan at the request of the British firm Wright and Hansford of Farringdon Lane. Watercolours of existing pieces from the Godman Collection were sent to Iran to be copied there. Iznik vessels were already expensive works of art in the late 19th century and this would have provided the British firm with a low-cost alternative to be used as examples of ‘good design’ in art schools in Britain. These dishes were bought by the V and ‘circulated around educational establishments for half a century’. Walter Crane, a member of the Committee of Advice at the V, noted then: ‘These are very remarkable and interesting as reproductions… The way the patterns are varied by fine drawing is characteristic. For all ordinary purposes they are as good as the originals’ (Oliver Watson, ‘Iznik from Isfahan’, Apollo, September 1981, pp. 176-179).

The slightly ribbed profile of the dish’s reverse and aspects of the polychrome glaze such as the pooling cobalt blue are unusual for European-made-pieces. The decoration of the reverse with freely executed rosettes is also of relatively uncommon quality. It is however reminiscent of Qajar ceramics of the late 19th century. The fact that the copies discussed above are all of dishes in the ‘Damascus’ style supports the suggestion that this is an Isfahan ‘Iznik’ dish. We are thankful to Simon Ray and his team for their contribution in writing this note.

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