Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, London, 25 April 2013
An Iznik pottery jug, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1570
Lot 198. An Iznik pottery jug, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1570; 9¼in. (23.4cm.) high. Estimate GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 37,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2013
Of accentuated baluster form with large belly, the dusty pink slip ground covered with blue slip arabesque panels enclosed within white arabesque ogival lattice, between plain blue bands, mouth restored.
Note: The present jug is one of a very small number of Iznik vessels decorated on top of a coloured slip ground. In the mid-16th century, after the introduction of bole-red (ca. 1557), experiments began with other colours ranging from ochre and chocolate brown to coral and lavender blue which were applied as a slip for background colours (and sometimes also used within the decorative motifs). It was however a technique which required great skill and was not continued much beyond 1570.
The design painted on the pink slip of our jug, which is composed of palmettes contained within a cusped lattice, is also found on a water bottle from the Mosque of Sultan Selim II in Edirne (completed in 1574-75, now in the Çinili Kösk, Istanbul, Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.451, pp.240-41).