Tile, fritware body, painted under the glaze in two shades of blue, Turkey (Iznik), 1530s; from the Çinili Hamam (Tiled Bath-house) in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul.

Hexagonal tile of fritware (also called stone paste), painted under the glaze in two shades of blue. The hexagonal central field has a design in the so-called saz style. It shows a pair of ducks standing within a rotating pattern of flowers, leaves and buds set on reed-like stems. The flowers include four complex, composite blossoms of the hatâyî type and a variety of rosettes. At the top of the composition, the reed-like stem is shown broken. The damaged border shows a row of six-petal rosettes flanked top and bottom by four-petal rosettes, only half of which are shown, all appearing white against the dark-blue ground.

This tile once decorated a bathhouse in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul. The bath was designed by the famous court architect, Sinan (d. 1588), and the tiles that decorate the building relate to those made for the imperial palace in the same period. So extensive was the use of tiling on its walls that the building came to be known as the Çinili Hamam, the Tiled Bathhouse.
Patronage. Since it opened, probably in the 1530s, the bathhouse has been associated with Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa, called Barbarossa in Western sources, who is famous as the Ottoman empire’s greatest naval commander. The admiral, whose original given name was Hıdır, was born on the island of Lesbos about 1478. He began his naval career as a privateer, and in the 1510s he assisted his elder brother Oruç in establishing a “sultanate” with ever-changing borders in what is now Algeria and Tunisia. There they confronted the Spanish, whom Oruç was killed fighting in 1518. Barbarossa succeeded him, ruling under Ottoman suzerainty. In 1534 he swapped his province for command of the Ottoman navy with the title of “captain of the sea” (<i>kapudan-ı deryâ</i>). He held this post until his death in 1546, carrying out a series of successful campaigns against the Spanish and their allies, often in co-operation with the French.
After his arrival in Istanbul in 1534, Barbarossa began to erect religious foundations in the city, of which only his tomb in the Beşiktaş district survives. The admiral acquired the bathhouse in the Zeyrek district so that the profits could support these foundations.
Dispersal. The bathhouse underwent various vicissitudes over its history, including several major fires that destroyed the surrounding district and damaged the building. By the later 19th century, the remaining tilework was in poor condition, and most of the tiles were removed and sold to a dealer called Ludovic Lupti, probably in 1874. Lupti marketed them in Paris. From the 1890s to the 1950s, many examples were acquired by the V&A. At the time the Museum was unaware of their origin or even of the fact that they all came from one building. Excavation and conservation work on the bathhouse in 2010-22 established the connection beyond doubt.
This tile was purchased in 1892. On 26 September 1892, Parvillée Frères et Cie of 46 rue Caulaincourt, Paris, wrote to the Director of the South Kensington Museum, offering for sale the collection of tiles owned by their father, Léon Parvillée:
Nous avons l’honneur de vous informer que nous serions disposés à vendre la très interressante [sic] collection de faïences orientales rapportée en 1865 par notre père, lors de ses voyages en Asie. / Cette collection comprend une soixantaine de pieces [sic] provenant pour un grand part de la Mosquée de Yechil Djami, du tombeau de Mohammed 1er à Brousse (Asie Mineure), XVème siècle.
The price was 15,000 francs. Officials in South Kensington were already aware of the collection, having been shown a photograph of it by a London dealer, J. Sasson, and two representatives from the Museum visited Paris in November to view the tiles. It was agreed to make an offer of 7,500 francs, which was accepted. Four of the tiles, accessioned as 1679 to 1681-1892, are now identified as coming from the Çinili Hamam in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul.

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1680-1892