Lot 236. An Iznik polychrome pottery dish with hyacinths and prunus, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1575-85; 30cm. diam. Estimate £25,000 - £35,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

fritware decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, green and relief red with thin green outlines, featuring a central bouquet between hyacinth and prunus stems, the rim with a breaking wave design interspersed by S-shape motifs, reverse with flower heads and foliate stems.

Provenance: Ex-collection Leon Rolin (1871-1950) and his wife Madeleine Shaar (1876-1954); 
by descent. 

Known fondly as the ‘Lion of Cairo’, Leon Rolins stimulated the construction industry and made significant contributions to the infrastructure and landscapes of Cairo through his firm Leon Rolin & Co from its inception in 1902. It was during these fruitful business ventures that the family began avidly collecting Islamic art, which is still being passed down through the generations to this day. 

Note: “There are no people who so much delight in beautiful flowers as the Turks, when they find a beautiful wallflower or some other graceful flower, even though it has no smell they do not prize it the less [...]. Artisans commonly have several flowers of different colours in a jar of water in front of them, to keep them fresh in their beauty. And so the Turks think as much of their gardens as we do, and go to great trouble to get exotic trees, particularly those that have beautiful flowers, and grudge no money for the purpose”

Pierre Belon du Mans, a herbalist who travelled in quest of plants throughout the Ottoman empire (1546-49) in the entourage of the French ambassador to Suleyman the Magnificent (Travels in the Levant: The Observations of Pierre Belon du Mans (1553), (ed.) Alexandra Merle. (trans.) James Hogarth, UK, p.469).

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World including Fine Rugs and Carpets, London, 01 May 2019, 10:30