This plate is the only known example of an Iznik vessel decorated with a portrait. Even more strikingly, the portrait is not of a Turk but of an Italian youth. He is shown wearing a cap with a feather and buttoned shirt with a collar against a landscape background composed of a series of hills with trees.

Iznik is the name given to the splendid ceramics produced in the town of that name in north-west Turkey in the 15th to 17th centuries. This plate belongs to a group of wares made around 1500 to 1550 and painted in blue and turquoise with decoration inspired by diverse sources. These included Chinese porcelain and Italian maiolica, which may have been the source of the portrait on this piece. The shape of the plate is also Italian, with a wide, flat rim and a shallow central recess. This object is clear evidence of the intense commercial and other contacts between Turkey and Italy in the 16th century.