Lot 93. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1580; 11 7/8in. (30cm.) diam. Estimate: GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Sold for: GBP 37,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

The white ground decorated in cobalt-blue, bole-red and turquoise with a central roundel containing stylised animals surrounded by radiating lobed panels, a border of overlapping cusped motifs, the exterior plain.

Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 11 October 1989, lot 144.

Note: This Iznik dish belongs to a group of vessels produced in the second half of the sixteenth century that were decorated with real and fantastic animals. For a discussion on the representation of animals on Iznik vessels, together with suggestions on its links with Balkan metalwork and its imagery as the garden of paradise see Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.256 and M. Wenzel, 'Early Ottoman silver and Iznik pottery design', Apollo, vol. CXXX, no.331, September 1989. An animal design dish sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 172. Another, with a lappet border, similar to ours, was sold 4 October 2012, lot 241. A wonderful tankard, similarly decorated, was sold in Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 319.

Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 1 april 2021