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 blue and turquoise on a white ground. The sixfold pattern is a combination of hatâyî and rûmî scrollwork, which are given equal visual weight. The pattern is self-contained, being set within a narrow border in three colours. In the hatâyî scrollwork, six composite, stencil-like blossoms of two alternating types are linked by curving stems. The stems continue beyond the blossoms and end in pairs of motifs – small leaves are associated with one type of blossom, and flower buds with the other. The hatâyî pattern is therefore open-ended, whereas the rûmî pattern is closed, forming six compartments that enclose the six hatâyî blossoms. The cusped stems of the rûmî pattern, emerging from a central rosette, bear stylized leaf forms (split palmettes), with further stems emerging from their two tips. Pairs of these outer stems are joined, completing the compartments and supporting small palmettes of two alternating types that fill the corners of the tile.

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 V&A from the heirs of Mary Arnold-Foster (1861–1951), who may have inherited them from her father, Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1823–1911). On 29 November 1952, Arthur Lane, the Museum’s Keeper of Ceramics and Glass, received a letter 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, 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.

C.14-1953