OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1530

Details

TWO BLUE AND WHITE HEXAGONAL IZNIK TILES
OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1530
The white ground decorated in cobalt-blue and turquoise with a design of radiating arabesques flanking palmettes
8 3/8in. (21.4cm.) across

Provenance

Lockwood de Forest, late 19th century, and thence by descent to the present owner

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Lot Essay

Tiles of this design are associated with the facade of the Sünnet Odasi in the Topkapi Saray Palace although it is probable that they were re-used having originally been made for an earlier construction (Venetia Porter, Islamic Tiles, London, 1995, p.106, p.106). These tiles were made over a period when the technology was changing at Iznik. As a result one can find different glaze surfaces on different examples. Other examples of the same design can be found in many museum collections including the Gulbenkian Museum (Calouste Gulbenkian Musée, 1982, no.122, p.191), the Fogg Art Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum (Arthur Lane, A Guide to the Collection of Tiles, London, 1960, pl.13), and the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul (Laure Soustiel, Splendeurs de la ceramique Ottomane, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, no.14, p.66). Another is in the Ömer Koç collection (Hülya Bilgi, The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection, Istanbul, 2015, p.106, no.9). A similar tile sold Christie's London, 27 April 2004, lot 57.

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