Ewer
ca. 1520 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The angular shape of this ceramic ewer is based on a metal example. This piece has been damaged and repaired with metal mounts. A number of large basins survive which were probably made as sets with equally large ewers. None of these large ewers has survived but this smaller one shows what they might have looked like.
This piece was made in the small town of Iznik in north-west Anatolia. 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.
This piece was made in the small town of Iznik in north-west Anatolia. 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; later silver mounts. |
| Brief description | Blue-and-white angular ewer, restored in the 19th century with silver mounts, Turkey (probably Iznik), ca. 1520. |
| Physical description | Blue and white angular ewer, decorated with arabesques and stylized clouds. Restored in the 19th century with silver mounts. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Salting Bequest |
| Historical context | The scrolling arabesques and stylized cloud bands on this little ewer recall earlier Islamic ornament; but the design has become more open and free, looking forward to the classical Iznik style of hand-painted floral motifs. The metal mounts were added as repairs later, possibly in the nineteenth century. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | The angular shape of this ceramic ewer is based on a metal example. This piece has been damaged and repaired with metal mounts. A number of large basins survive which were probably made as sets with equally large ewers. None of these large ewers has survived but this smaller one shows what they might have looked like. This piece was made in the small town of Iznik in north-west Anatolia. 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. 97, p. 97. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.2008-1910 |
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| Record created | November 28, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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