OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1560

When published by Grünberg and Torn in 1988, the authors of the catalogue wrote that “this superb tile is an archetypal example of the so-called saz style”. The most famous examples of this saz style, is the group of blue and turquoise tile panels on the façade of the Sünnet Odasi in the Topkapi Palace, possibly done by the court designer, Şahkulu in the mid 16^th century. A similar tile to that offered here is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 1978.350; published Maryam D. Ekhtiar, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby and Navina Najat Haidar (eds.), Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011,p.308, no.217).