Dish
ca. 1550 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This bowl was probably made in Iznik in north-west Anatolia. After 1520, the potters there gradually expanded their range of colours. By 1550, they were using blue, turquoise, sage green, tones of mauve and purple, and a greenish black. These colours have been used here to depict a spray of flowers that rises from a small clump of leaves.
Iznik has given its name to some of the most accomplished ceramics produced in the Islamic Middle East. In the mid 15th century, potters there specialised in modest earthenware imitations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. But in the 1460s or 1470s, under the patronage of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, they began to manufacture bowls, dishes and other pieces of fritware that were elegant in shape and decoration, and often very large.
Iznik has given its name to some of the most accomplished ceramics produced in the Islamic Middle East. In the mid 15th century, potters there specialised in modest earthenware imitations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. But in the 1460s or 1470s, under the patronage of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, they began to manufacture bowls, dishes and other pieces of fritware that were elegant in shape and decoration, and often very large.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed |
| Brief description | Shallow dish with floral spray, sinuous cloud bands in the three largest flowers, Turkey (probably Iznik), ca. 1550. |
| Physical description | Shallow dish with floral spray in light and dark blue, green, and grayish purple; sinuous cloud bands in the three largest flowers. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Salting Bequest |
| Historical context | Details like the cloudbands in the three largest flowers and the particular shade of sage green allow us to link this fine Iznik bowl to the atelier of an artist named Musli, who was active around the middle of the sixteenth century and is known from a mosque lamp he signed. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This bowl was probably made in Iznik in north-west Anatolia. After 1520, the potters there gradually expanded their range of colours. By 1550, they were using blue, turquoise, sage green, tones of mauve and purple, and a greenish black. These colours have been used here to depict a spray of flowers that rises from a small clump of leaves. Iznik has given its name to some of the most accomplished ceramics produced in the Islamic Middle East. In the mid 15th century, potters there specialised in modest earthenware imitations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. But in the 1460s or 1470s, under the patronage of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, they began to manufacture bowls, dishes and other pieces of fritware that were elegant in shape and decoration, and often very large. |
| Bibliographic reference | Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 236, p. 136 (also illustrated in color, fig. 359). |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.1986-1910 |
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| Record created | November 28, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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