IZNIK POLYCHROME DISH DECORATED WITH A SAILING SHIP

Fritware, underglaze painted in coral red, green, blue and black. Depicting a sailing ship with three masts, in open sea. The rim decorated with stylized wave motifs.

Iznik ceramics decorated with sailing ships are rare. Depicting sailing ships was a novelty for the decorative repertoire of Iznik ceramics. According to Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, the ships depicted on these Iznik dishes are European or lateen-rigged ships (ships with a triangular sail set). See, Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, Thames and Hudson, London, 1989, p. 280. Ships which have always been such a vital part of the commercial life and wealth of the Ottoman Empire, and its capital Istanbul, were lovingly used as enriching motifs in Iznik ceramics and textiles. Please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, pp. 210-211.

The wave motif or ‘rocks and waves’ surrounding the rim of the present dish is one of the schematic motifs inspired by nature which is found on Yuan period blue and white Chinese porcelain. The earliest examples with wave borders are found on the ceramics in the socalled potters’ style which were produced from around 1525 onwards. For further information please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, pp. 122-123.

Iznik dishes similarly decorated with sailing ships from the Musée National de la Renaissance have been published in Frédéric Hitzel & Mireille Jacotin’s Iznik –L’Aventure d’Une Collection, Les Céramique Ottomanes du Musée National de la Renaissance, Château d’Écouen, Paris, 2005, pp. 304-305. For a closely related dish in the Ömer Koç Collection, see Hülya Bilgi’s

AteşinOyunu:SadberkHanımMüzesiveÖmerKoç KoleksiyonlarındanİznikÇiniveSeramikleri, Sadberk Hanım Müzesi, İstanbul, 2009, pl. 284.

Provenance:

Ex-Angélique Amandry Collection (1925-2021).

Born in 1925, Angélique Amandry was an archaeologist, art dealer and art collector. She was secretary to the École Française in Athens. Between 1949-1969, she lived in Strasbourg. Between 1969 and 1981 she lived in Athens. Then she moved to Paris where she married Pierre Amandry. After moving to Strasbourg she became an art dealer. She donated the profit from her sales to the widows of war veterans. For ten years, the name of her stand was ‘AZ La Decouvérte’. She acquired some of her first philHellenic pieces in this period. On her return to Athens, she thought of organizing an exhibition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Greek independence. The exhibition, held in Hilton Athens, was titled ‘Images of French Philhellenism 1820-1840’. Later, she moved to Paris and she published L'Independance Grecque Dans La Faience Francaise Du 19e Siecle in 1982. Later in her life, she continued working as an antique dealer. She died in 2021.

Ottoman Empire

Mid-16th Century

Dimension: 26 x 26.4 cm.

Important Iznik Pottery Blue And White Tile

Fritware, painted under clear glaze with cobalt blue and turquoise; the composition consists of intertwined saz leaves and khatai blossoms, each decorated with white flower heads.

The combination of cobalt blue and turquoise seen on the present tile can also be found on the famous Sünnet Odası (Circumcision Room) tiles in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul. Especially the saz leaves and khatai blossoms on the side panels of the Circumcision Room tiles feature similar use of cobalt blue and turquoise. Please see, Ahmet Ertuğ and Walter Denny, Gardens of Paradise – 16th Century Turkish Ceramic Tile Production, p. 81.

The saz leaf is an important motif frequently used by the artists employed in the Ottoman court studio. The first representative of the saz style at the Ottoman palace was Şahkulu, an artist brought from Tabriz by Sultan Selim I (r. 1512-1520). This style was a departure from the classical miniature painting, characterised by pictures drawn with a brush in black ink, featuring long pointed leaves, giving birth to the term ‘saz leaf’. Paintings in the saz style may remind a thick forest with intertwined curved leaves and khatai blossoms. In fact, the word saz, used to mean ‘forest’ in the Dede Korkut stories that date back to the 10th or 11th century. For further information please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, p. 106.

There are many hypothesis about the origin of the khatai motif. One of these is that this motif was created by an artist who travelled from Herat to China, or that it was inspired by the lotus, but all agree that the name derives from Hitay, a region of China. For further information please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, p. 104.

An important Iznik ‘Damascus style’ dish with similar cobalt blue and turquoise is published in our gallery’s 2017 catalogue Kent Antiques Islamic and Indian Art – Works of Art from the Islamic World and Orientalist Paintings, London, 2017, No. 18.

Comparable Iznik dishes and footed bowls similarly decorated with khatai blossoms in cobalt blue and turquoise, produced between 1545-1550, are published in Nurhan Atasoy & Julian Raby’s Iznik – The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, Alexandria Press, London, 1994, pl. 352 and pl. 358.

Three Iznik tiles, identical to the present tile, are in the Louvre Museum (Inv. No. AD 5971/1, AD 5971/3, AD 5971/4), Paris. Please see, https://collections. louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010332784

A counterpart of the present tile is published in Couleurs d’Orient - Arts et arts de vivre dans l’Empire Ottoman, Catalogue d’exposition, Villa Empain, Fondation Boghossian, Bruxelles, 18 November 2010 - 27 February 2011, p. 47.

A similar tile decorated with saz leaves and flower heads is found in the Cincinnati Museum. Counterparts of the Cincinnati tile are found in the Rüstem Pasha Mosque in Istanbul. See, Ara Altun & Belgin Arlı, Tiles – Treasures of Anatolian Soil – Ottoman Period, Kale Group Cultural Publications, Istanbul, 2008, p. 183, fig. 204.

This is a rare tile displaying wonderful precision in outlining and colours which is a result of masterful brushwork and excellent firing.

Provenance:

A. Jacob Collection (1942-1988), Paris.

Ottoman Empire Second half of the 16th Century

Dimensions: 25 x 25 cm.

Pair Of Iznik Tiles Decorated With Tulips And Spring Flowers In A Vase

Painted under clear glaze with coral red, green, cobalt blue, black; the composition consists of a central vase with blue tulips and spring flowers, surrounded by red tulips from the left and the right.

In the Ottoman period flowers, like those decorating the present tiles, were a constant part of daily life, grown in gardens everywhere, from palaces to humble homes. Foreign travellers and ambassadors who visited the empire frequently remarked about this love of flowers. The 17th century Ottoman writer and traveller Evliya Çelebi describes how vases of roses, tulips, hyacinths, narcissi and lilies were placed between the rows of worshippers in the Eski Mosque and the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, and how their scent filled the prayer halls. As depicted in the present tiles, vases of flowers adorned niches in the walls, dining trays and rows of vases were placed around rooms and pools. For further information about ‘flowers in baskets or vases’ motifs please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, pp. 110-111.

The tulip has a symbolic meaning in Ottoman art. The letters of the word tulip (Lâle [ هللا]) in Turkish and Persian are the same letters used for writing the word Allah [ اللَّه] (God). These two words have the same numerological value in the abjad system (a decimal alphabetic numeral system in which the twenty-eight letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values). Tulip is one of the leading decorative elements in Ottoman art; frequently used together with roses, hyacinths, saz leaves. It is also used with khatai blossoms as can be seen in the present tile. Tulip also played a role in imagery in Ottoman poetry. In many poems, tulip leaves are likened to the cheeks of the beloved. The word lāleh-khad (lâle-had), often used in Ottoman poetry, means ‘tulip-cheeked’. Tulips were among the most favoured motifs used in the Ottoman court workshops in the 16th century. The name ‘tulip’ is thought to have derived from the Turkish word tülbend (from the Persian word دنبلد [dulband]) -meaning ‘large cotton band which is used in the making of turban or headgear’- because of the fancied resemblance of the flower to a turban.

An almost identical Iznik tile is in the Sadberk Hanım Museum (Inv. No. 4184), Istanbul. Please see, the exhibition catalogue Istanbul: The City and the Sultan, December 16, 2006 - April 15, 2007, organised by Stichting Projecten De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 52.

Provenance: Ex-Doltrap Family Collection, The Netherlands.

Mesopotamia

9th Century

Diameter: 20.5 cm.

Height: 6 cm.