An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1560
Lot 124. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1560; 12 ½in. (31.7cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000 (USD 18,840 - USD 25,120). © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
With sloping cusped rim, the white interior decorated in bole-red, sage green, black and two shades of blue, with a dense floral spray of carnations and a single tulip flanked by two hyacinth branches, the rim with paired tulips and single cintamani roundels, the exterior with alternating blue flowerheads and foliate motifs, old collection labels, some restoration to the rim.
Provenance: Collection Rudolf Graf von Hoyos-Sprinzenstein (1821-1896), Vienna.
1897 Sold at Auction: Katalog der... Kunstsammlung Graf Rudolf Hoyos (XCIV. Kunstauktion H. O. Mietke), Vienna, 26 April 1897.
Note: The colours of this impressive dish are typical of the production of Iznik in the 1550s and early 1560s. The earliest known dateable piece to use bole red is the famous lamp from the Süleymaniye (completed in 1557), now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv.no.131.1885; Atasoy and Raby, 1989, fig.377, pp.224-25). There, like our dish, the red is thinly and slightly unevenly applied such that in places the white ground shows through in patches or the red appears orangey in colour. This is indicative of an important period when the potters were still mastering the technical and aesthetic demands of bole red. A dish with a similar colour scheme sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 240.
Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, London, 2 April 2020