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 on a white ground. The design is in the so-called saz style, with a pattern of fantastic composite blossoms, rosettes and buds of the hatâyî type set on a curving vine with reed-like stems and leaves. The vine grows from a group of leaves at the base of the tile. One stem grows to the left and ends in a large leaf, while another rises to the large hatâyî blossom in the centre of the pattern and then rotates around this central blossom to fill the whole surface of the tile, again ending in a large leaf. The edges of the design were lost when the damaged tile was trimmed to make it more regular, and more saleable. This occurred when it was removed from the Çinili Hamam in 1874, as is shown by debris excavated at the site.

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.
The Museum purchased this tile in Brighton in 1905. On 8 May 1905, the curators A.F. Kendrick and Bernard Rackham reported on a visit to Brighton on the previous Saturday to view the collection of Henry Willett, which was to be sold by the auctioneers Wilkinson & Welch on 10 May. They recommended buying the 11 tiles that formed lot 337, with Frederick Simpson of 46 Sydney Street, Brighton, as the Museum’s agent. They were attracted in particular by the tile that is now 396-1905. An upper limit of £20 was set, but in the event the lot cost only £2.5s.0d, plus Simpson’s commission of 5% and a charge for “packing etc.”, bringing the total to £2.14s.9d. Two of the tiles, accessioned as 396 and 397-1905, have now been identified as coming from the Çinili Hamam in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul.

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396-1905