Lot 117. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, third quarter 16th century; 11 7/8in. (30.2cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000. Price realised GBP 8,750. Courtesy Sotheby's.

With sloping cusped rim on short foot, the white interior with four delicately drawn pale blue floral sprays in a border of similar floral sprays, the border outlined in strong cobalt-blue, the exterior with alternating pale grey floral motifs, small repair to rim.

Note: Floral sprays joined with a cloudband similar to these seen on this dish, though slightly simpler, decorate the cavetto of an Iznik dish in the Antaki collection which is dated circa 1570 (Atasoy and Raby, 1989, fig.446, pp.240-41). Our floral sprays seem in some ways to relate to two dishes in a group that Atasoy and Raby term the "Flowerpot with Rock Work" dishes, which share quatrefoil designs based around a central rosette and separated by minor floral sprays and small dots or filler motifs (Atasoy and Raby, figs.472-73, pp.244-45). Both of those are dated to 1565-1570. Another related dish is in the Sadberk Hanim Museum (Bilgi, 2009, no.212, p.352). The feathery flowers of ours however owe more to the influence of Chinese export wares of the late 15th and early 16th centuries than any of the other dishes listed above. A dish with similar flowers, though there part of a continuous scrolling pattern, is in the Ömer M. Koç collection (Bilgi, 2009, no.15, pp.72-73). Similar flowers also decorate an albarello that sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 236.

Sotheby's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 28 October 2020