Iznik Revival Ceramics

and the ochre and yellow robe he wears. Appearing from behind his left shoulder is a pale blue banner bearing the name HAIF (?) suggesting that he is a real figure rather than just a classical creation. Like the other albarello jar, the figure is framed by an oak-leafed cartouche and surrounded by instruments against an ochre ground. The label below in cobalt blue against a white ground reads:

TRIFERA MAGNA

This Latin term translates to “Big vase”, a mysterious and ambiguous phrase that perhaps suggests the contents could be non-specific or based upon quantity rather than type. Below the label, a further group of trophies including spheres and manuscripts float against the cobalt ground. Interestingly, the sphere to the front contains the date “1555”, which we assume is accurate for dating the jar. Borders of yellow and green oak leaves frame the central field above and below.

A similar albarello jar, also dated 1555 and with a portrait of a man in Turkish costume within the same cartouche is in the Musée de la Renaissance in Ecouen.

Provenance: The Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Foundation Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (21st February 1920 - 25th January 2012) was an American philanthropist, leader, activist, and patron of the arts. She was the granddaughter of Benjamin N. Duke, great niece of James B. Duke and great granddaughter of Washington Duke, tobacco tycoons who built the American Tobacco Company. Her great uncle James was the key principal in the formation and early operations of what is now Duke Energy Corporation, the largest investorowned utility in the United States, and with the urging and guidance of his brother Ben, founded Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and established The Duke Endowment, now one of the largest charitable organisations in the United States.

These maiolica albarelli were obtained during Mrs Semans’ first marriage. Her husband’s fascination with medical objects and memorabilia came naturally, but it was during their time in Italy that he found inspiration in the many beautiful pharmacy jars they observed. The exact dates of acquisition of these jars are uncertain, but from all accounts from Mary’s family, the collection was started soon after their return from Europe in the summer of 1938 and concluded at some time before Josiah’s tragic death in 1948. In 1956, Mary donated these jars to Duke University on longterm loan, where they were prominently displayed until just recently.

We would like to thank Signora Maria Schiavone for the Latin translations on these objects.

32

ANIMALS IN A LANDSCAPE

france, circa 1880

by edmé samson

diameter: 31.5 cm

A polychrome underglaze-painted dish on a short foot and with a sloping rim, in colours of turquoise, cobalt blue and sealing wax red against a white ground, featuring a composition of various animals within borders of cusped lappet cartouches and stylised floral sprays.

The central turquoise roundel contains a rhythmically painted group of animals, caught in various poses. To the top, a pair of seated and confronted white lions fills the ground. Below, a leopard with markings on its back seems to have just spotted a pair of birds, his head turned in surprise. Scrolling tendrils and stylised tufts of grass fill the remaining ground, though according to John Carswell, these subsidiary designs were in fact stylised oak leaves.1 The white animals contrast with the vibrant turquoise ground, and splashes of sealing wax red further heighten the scene. A band of cusped lappet cartouches in raised sealing wax red painted on the deep cavetto contain stylised floral sprays and are surrounded by alternating trefoil leaves and single spots in cobalt blue. A double black-lined border surrounds the main field and to the rim is a repeated pattern of floral sprays and small cusped cartouches against a turquoise ground. To the reverse of the dish are alternating designs of turquoise scrolls and floral sprays to the underside of the cavetto surrounding a small cobalt floral motif of the Samson factory to the centre. For a similar Iznik dish with animal designs, see the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 343-1897; a further example published in Keld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, 2001, p. 192, no. 277; and examples in Frédéric Hitzel and Mireille Jacotin, Iznik: L’aventure d’une collection, 2005, pp. 277-283.

European ceramic factories such as Samson, Cantagalli, Minton, Lachenal and Theodore Deck produced pottery in the second half of the nineteenth century, which closely mimicked both the design as well as colour of sixteenth century Turkish Iznik ceramics. There are three Iznik dishes attributed to the late sixteenth century in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the David Collection, Copenhagen, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon which are all examples of this animal design which has been copied by Samson here. According to John Carswell, it is possible that these images of playful animals were inspired by pieces of Balkan silver, which was popular in sixteenth century Turkey.2

References: 1. John Carswell, Iznik Pottery, 1998, p. 85. 2. Ibid., p. 84.

33

TIGER STRIPES AND CINTAMANI

france, circa 1880

by edmé samson

heiGht: 18.8 cm

diameter: 15.6 cm

An underglaze-painted malletshaped candlestick in shades of green and black against a white ground, formed with a pinched cylindrical body, flat shoulder, short tapering neck and flared mouth.

The unusual design to the main body consists of repeated stylised “tiger stripes” with dark green-grey edges containing lighter emerald green centres which fill the ground in angled columns. The field is framed above and below by borders of repeating black “ammonite scrolls” painted against a vibrant emerald green ground. The flat shoulder which acts as a drip tray for the molten wax is decorated with further larger tiger stripes in chevroned patterns, interspersed with cintamani spots. The short and slightly tapered neck features another pattern of small, repeated tiger stripes within scrolling borders and to the top a trumpet mouth has chevroned stripes echoing the drip tray pattern below. Inside the base of the candlestick is a stylised ‘S’ motif, the mark of the Samson factory.

European ceramic factories such as Samson, Cantagalli, Minton, Lachenal and Theodore Deck produced pottery in the second half of the nineteenth century which closely mimicked both the design as well as colour of sixteenth century Turkish Iznik ceramics. Iznik pottery itself took inspiration in part from Balkan metalwork, including possibly the mallet-shaped candlestick. The original Iznik piece which Samson has copied here is published in the exhibition catalogue Exposition d’Art Musulman, Les Amis de L’Art, Alexandrie, Paris, 1925, pl. 34. Further examples of the tiger stripes (or Buddha lips) design can be seen on a jug in the David Collection, Copenhagen, no. 1/1962, as well as published in Hülya Bilgi, Dance of Fire: Iznik Tiles and Ceramics in the Sadberk Hanim Museum and Ömer M. Koç Collections, 2009, pp. 156-161 when accompanied by cintamani balls. This collection also features an Iznik bowl with an almost identical pattern and hue as our candlestick, no. 34, pp. 102-103. For similar shaped Iznik period candlesticks, see a pair in the British Museum, no. 1878,1230.521. Interestingly, according to their curator, the shape is “after a Venetian bronze prototype”.