Lot 154. A  blue and white hexagonal Iznik tile, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1530. Estimate £8,000 – £12,000 ($11,376 - $17,064). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The white ground decorated in cobalt-blue and turquoise with a design of radiating arabesques flanking palmettes executed in two shades of blue, simple line border, minor surface chips; 7in. (17.8cm.) across

Provenance: Anon sale, Sotheby's London, 27th April 1995, lot 70

Note: Tiles of this design are associated with the facade of the Sünnet Odasi in the Topkapi Saray Palace (Venetia Porter,Islamic Tiles, London, 1995, p.106). These tiles were made over a period when the technology was changing at Iznik. As a result one can find different glaze surfaces on different examples. Other examples of the same design can be found in many museum collections including the Gulbenkian Museum (Calouste Gulbenkian Musée, Catalogue, Lisbon, 1982, no.122, p.191), the Fogg Art Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum (Arthur Lane, A Guide to the Collection of Tiles, London, 1960, pl.13), and the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul (Laure Soustiel, Splendeurs de la ceramique Ottomane, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, no.14, p.66). A similar tile sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2004, lot 57.

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street