OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570

This important Iznik dish has a number of unusual features. The bole-red is thinly and slightly unevenly applied, such that in places the white ground shows through in patches or the red appears orangey in colour. This is indicative of an important period when the potters were still mastering the technical and aesthetic demands of bole red. The bold central cloud-band motif also relates to the similar motifs on a mosque lamp executed in the 'Damascus' palette and dated to 1549. This motif is also seen as the central motif on a dish in Berlin (J. Zick-Nissen et al., Turkische Kunst und Kultur aus osmanischer Zeit, Recklinghausen, 1985, vol. 2, p.147, no.2/20) that dates from the middle of the sixteenth century.

Most unusual is the underside of the foot which is painted in a lavender-blue slip. Around 1570 this colour was used as the ground for a small group of Iznik vessels. A jug painted in lavender slip was recently sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 142. It appears probable that its appearance on the base of this dish was a trial before it was used to cover the whole. A similar treatment of the foot is seen on a dish formerly in the Brocklebank collection which has an interior decorated in a blue and white 'wheatsheaf' design. The underside of the foot of that dish is covered in a pink rather than blue slip, another coloured slip that was used for the ground of a limited group of pieces.