Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Tile

1530-1540 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Border tile of fritware (also called stone paste), painted under the glaze in two shades of blue. The central field is defined by two pairs of corner-pieces, which resemble the spandrels of an arch in shape (compare V&A: 1879:1, 2-1897). The corner-pieces contain a scrollwork pattern called rûmî in Turkish and based on conventionalized leaves seen side-on (half-palmettes), which appears as white on the dark-blue ground. The central field is occupied by an arrangement of two scrollwork patterns in light- and dark-blue, each with four main elements. One is a design of curving tendrils set with complex, stencil-like blossoms of two sizes and ending in small leaves (a mode of design called hatâyî in Turkish). The other is a rûmî pattern with cusped tendrils, centred on a small four-petal rosette and bearing four large half-palmettes and smaller palmette finials.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Tile, fritware body, painted under the glaze in blue and turquoise, Turkey (Iznik), 1530s; from the Çinili Hamam (Tiled Bath-house) in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul.
Physical description
Border tile of fritware (also called stone paste), painted under the glaze in two shades of blue. The central field is defined by two pairs of corner-pieces, which resemble the spandrels of an arch in shape (compare V&A: 1879:1, 2-1897). The corner-pieces contain a scrollwork pattern called rûmî in Turkish and based on conventionalized leaves seen side-on (half-palmettes), which appears as white on the dark-blue ground. The central field is occupied by an arrangement of two scrollwork patterns in light- and dark-blue, each with four main elements. One is a design of curving tendrils set with complex, stencil-like blossoms of two sizes and ending in small leaves (a mode of design called hatâyî in Turkish). The other is a rûmî pattern with cusped tendrils, centred on a small four-petal rosette and bearing four large half-palmettes and smaller palmette finials.
Dimensions
  • Width: 17.1cm
  • Length: 27.9cm
Object history
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 came to the Museum from the heirs of Mary Arnold-Foster (1861–1951). On 29 November 1952, Arthur Lane, Keeper of Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum, received a letter from from John Arnold-Forster of Salthrop House, near Swindon, Wiltshire, offering the Museum a collection of tiles as a gift. Lane visited Arnold-Forster in Wiltshire on 12 December 1952 and made his selection of 26 tiles, bringing one back with him. The remainder were collected by van on 19 January 1953. The Director of the Museum wrote to thank Arnold-Forster on 13 February 1953. The gift included 15 tiles now identified as coming from the Çinili Hamam in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul, which were divided between the Ceramics and Glass Department and the Circulation Department. They were accessioned as C.2 to 6, 9, 10, and 12 to 14-1953 and as Circ.26 to 28 and 30-1953.

Subjects depicted
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
C.2-1953

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest