OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1530

Tiles of this design are associated with the façade of the Sünnet Odasi in the Topkapi Saray Palace (Venetia Porter, Islamic Tiles, London, 1995, 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 collections including the Gulbenkian Museum (Calouste Gulbenkian Musée, Lisbon, 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).