OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1590

Although most animal vessels date from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the type is known as far back as 1530s. Finds at Iznik have included two blue and white fragments from animal vessels and a third similar piece in the form of a sculpted animal’s head (O. Aslanapa et al., The Iznik Tile Excavations, Second Round, Istanbul, 1989, pp.115, 116, 119 and 149). Later examples, like this one, tend to be on a green or turquoise ground and often have the lappet borders found on both this dish and that of the preceding lot. Animal dishes with lappet borders similar to both of ours were sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 241 and more recently 1 April 2021, lot 93.