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Bottle
Unknown - Enlarge image
Bottle
- Place of origin:
Iznik, Turkey (probably, made)
- Date:
1535-1540 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Fritware, underglaze painted in blue and turquoise, glazed
- Museum number:
6785-1860
- Gallery location:
Islamic Middle East, room 42, case WN4, shelf 3
The shape of this ceramic bottle is derived from metalwork. The decoration, however, is typical of that used by the potters of Iznik, in north-west Anatolia. By the 1530s, the small sprays of tulips and other recognisable flowers used on this bottle were a common motif.
The Ottoman court renewed their patronage of Iznik ceramics during the construction of the Süleymaniye mosque in Istanbul in 1550 to 1557. The first Iznik tiles were produced, and potters added a bright red to the range of colours painted under the glaze. This was achieved with a slip made from a special clay.
In the following decades, tiles of high quality were decorated in red, green and tones of blue on a white ground. Dishes, bottles and other vessels had similar decoration on white or coloured grounds.
