Tile, fritware body, painted under the glaze in two shades of blue, Turkey (Iznik), 1530-40; from the Çinili Hamam (Tiled Bath-house) in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul.

Border tile of fritware (also called stone paste), painted in two shades of blue on a white ground. Set in the centre is a pointed oval figure with a scalloped outline, which contains scrollwork decoration appearing as white on the dark-blue ground. On either side of this is half of a pattern of spiralling tendrils set with complex, stencil-like blossoms and smaller five-petalled rosettes and leaves, a combination called hatâyî in Turkish. The focus of this design is a large hatâyî blossom, half of which occurs at either end of the tile. It is framed by scrollwork of a second type, called rûmî in Turkish, set with large, stylized leaves (half-palmettes). The blue border below the main field is set with three types of rosettes linked by curving stems set with small leaves, all appearing white against the blue ground, with details in light-blue.

This item was part of the grand programme of tile revetments that once decorated a bath-house in the Zeyrek district of Istanbul. So extensive was the use of tiling on its walls that the building came to be known as the Çinili Hamam, the Tiled Bath-house.

(a) Patronage. The bath-house was built by the Ottoman admiral called Barbarossa in Western sources and Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa in Turkish. He 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. 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.

During his later years Barbarossa began to erect religious monuments in Istanbul, of which only his tomb in the Beşiktaş district survives. The admiral built his splendid bath-house in the Zeyrek district so that the profits could support his religious foundations. As grand admiral (kapudan-ı deryâ), Barbarossa had access to the resources of the state in realising these projects. 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.

(b) Dispersal. The bath-house was sold off in the 19th century, and in subsequent restoration work, most of the remaining tiles were removed and sold to a dealer called Ludovic Lupti 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 bath-house, begun in 2012, has established the connection beyond doubt.

This tile was purchased at an auction at Christie’s, London, on 8 July 1896, when it was put up for sale by the executors of the painter Lord Leighton (died 25 January of the same year); it was one of the six tiles in lot 154, which sold for £8.8s.0d. Leighton had acquired tiles from several sources, including the Çinili Hamam, and had incorporated them into the decoration of his house in Holland Park Road, London, now the Leighton House Museum. The six tiles sold at Christie's were presumably surplus to requirements.

(c) The complete list of V&A tiles that have been identified as coming from the Çinili Hamam:

686-1892
686A-1892
686B-1892
961-1892
1019-1892
1020-1892
1021-1892
1042-1892
1042A-1892
1042B-1892
1043-1892
1043A-1892
1058-1892
1679-1892
1679A-1892
1680-1892
1681-1892
221-1896
508-1900
513-1900
396-1905
397-1905
C.2-1953
C.3-1953
C.3A-1953
C.4-1953
C.5-1953
C.6-1953
C.9-1953
C.10-1953
C.12-1953
C.13-1953
C.14-1953
Circ.26-1953
Circ.27-1953
Circ.28-1953
Circ.30-1953

221-1896