Tankard with floral decoration. Turkey, “Iznik”, c. 1575-80.

Stonepaste, underglaze painting over a slip coating H. 27.5 cm; Opening Diam. 14.5 cm; Base Diam. 15.7 cm Musée du Louvre, Charles Piet-Lataudrie bequest, 1909 OA 6323

The cylindrical form of this tankard is probably a legacy of its Northern and Eastern European counterparts used to contain beer, and made of wood, ceramics, metal, glass, or leather. Yet they may also be styled on other wooden containers such as grain measures, which endured for centuries. Ottoman ceramic tankards did not appear until the second quarter of the sixteenth century. In the Ottoman world these tankards, which were also made from jade or metal, would probably have held drinks too. They may also have been used as vases, as is borne out by miniatures on which they contain bouquets of flowers; these would fall into the "çiçek bardagi" category found in the Ottoman archives. Forms varied over the sixteenth century: around 1575, they became sturdier, with the body of the tankard being less tall and narrow, the handle still flat and angular, and its long fixations extending over the full height of the object. This tankard is decorated with naturalistic floral motifs characteristic of the 1570s and 1580s. These include roses, tulips and lilies, various species that were cultivated at the time and popular among the urban elite. A similar sequence of these flowers is repeated here four times with such regularity that a stencil was probably used. A skilful interplay of superimposed and intertwined stems provides depth to the ensemble, with such effects as a rose crossing its own stem, or the iris passing before the stem of the flowers with six petals. This tankard has a metal mount, a process common to both the Ottoman world and Europe, and also often used in the Ottoman court for Chinese porcelain.