OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570

Details

AN IZNIK POTTERY DISH
OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570
The white ground decorated in cobalt-blue, bole-red and green with radiating palmettes enclosed within scrolling saz leaves, the rim with stylised 'wave and rock' design, the exterior plain, the Arabic number 11 in underglaze green on the outer body near the rim, old collection stickers to foot, a drill hole to rim, hairline cracks to rim, otherwise intact
10 3⁄8in. (26.2cm.) diam.

Provenance

Jean Lagonico, Alexandria, thence by descent, sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 7 December 1991, lot 35

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Brought to you by

Barney Bartlett Junior Specialist

bbartlett@christies.com +44 (0) 791 769 5730

Lot Essay

Our dish is striking for its brilliant and rich colouring and fine condition, dating to circa 1570, a period when Iznik pottery reached its highest point. With the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extant, Iznik pottery of exceptional quality were commissioned. Artists combined a rich repertoire of often naturalistic motifs, a strong turquoise which is very rare on dishes, emerald-green, black and deep-red were added to the spectrum of colours, with outlines often drawn in black as illustrated on our dish.
The design on our dish, especially the blue flowers are very similar to a dish in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (X. 3267) published in Atasoy, Nurhan and Raby, Julian: Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no. 686). Two similar dishes were sold in these Rooms 12 April 1988, lot 283 and 10 October 2006, lot 90. A further example sold at Sotheby’s London, 25 April 2018, lot 172.

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