Jug thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Jug

ca. 1545 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The shape of this jug or carafe is derived from leatherwork but the colourful decoration suggests that it was made in Iznik, north-west Anatolia. By the 1530s, small sprays of tulips and other recognisable flowers were a common motif on Iznik ceramics. From the 1550s these were replaced by compositions on a larger scale, as seen on the fish-scale ground on this piece.

The Ottoman court renewed its patronage of Iznik ceramics during the construction of the Süleymaniye mosque in Istanbul in 1550 to 1557. The first Iznik tiles were produced, and potters added a bright red to the range of colours painted under the glaze. This was achieved with a slip made from a special clay.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed
Brief description
Tall carafe with hyacinths and tulips on blue fish-scale background, Turkey, probably Iznik, ca. 1545.
Physical description
Tall carafe with hyacinths and tulips on blue fish-scale background, the top pinched to produce a pouring lip.
Dimensions
  • Maximum width: 17cm
  • Height: 26.6cm
Styles
Gallery label
  • Jameel Gallery Variety of Shape and Design The shapes of Iznik vessels were derived from sources as varied as metalwork (9–11), leatherwork (14) and Chinese and Italian ceramics. Models included the Chinese ‘grape dish’ (2) and the Italian tondino form (15). By the 1530s, small sprays of tulips and other recognisable flowers were a common motif (9, 10, 15), but from the 1550s these were replaced by compositions on a larger scale. Many were originally developed for tilework (1, 3). 13-14 Dish and Carafe with Fish-scale Ground Turkey, probably Iznik 1580-5, and about 1545 Fritware painted under the glaze Museum nos. C.2028, C.2012-1910 Bequest of George Salting (Jameel Gallery)
  • JUG White earthenware painted in underglaze colours. TURKISH (IZNIK); about 1520 - 50. Salting Bequest(Old label)
Credit line
Salting Bequest
Historical context
This elegantly moulded carafe is one of the earliest examples of the use of a fish-scale decoration to add a sense of texture to a monochrome blue ground, a technique which became quite popular in the later sixteenth century.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The shape of this jug or carafe is derived from leatherwork but the colourful decoration suggests that it was made in Iznik, north-west Anatolia. By the 1530s, small sprays of tulips and other recognisable flowers were a common motif on Iznik ceramics. From the 1550s these were replaced by compositions on a larger scale, as seen on the fish-scale ground on this piece.

The Ottoman court renewed its patronage of Iznik ceramics during the construction of the Süleymaniye mosque in Istanbul in 1550 to 1557. The first Iznik tiles were produced, and potters added a bright red to the range of colours painted under the glaze. This was achieved with a slip made from a special clay.
Bibliographic references
  • Lane, Arthur. Later Islamic Pottery. London: Faber and Faber, 1957. 133p., ill. Page 53, plate 35A
  • Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 349 (color).
  • Wallis, Henry Illustrated catalogue of specimens of Persian and Arab art : exhibited in 1885, London : Printed for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1885 No.22, plate 8.
Collection
Accession number
C.2012-1910

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Record createdNovember 18, 2003
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