An earthenware dish decorated with polychrome Iznik-style motifs such as carnations, hyacinths, and prunus blossoms. The base of the dish is impressed with the 'TH DECK' mark in blue, indicating that it was made by 19th-century French ceramicist Théodore Deck (1823–1891).

Deck trained as a potter in various European factories, before setting up his own workshop in Paris in 1856. His early output centred on Renaissance-style wares, but he is best known for his Iznik-style ceramics. He may have studied Turkish pottery at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, but it is also likely that he was exposed to Islamic motifs through books, such as Adalbert de Beaumont's Recueil de dessins pour l'art et l'industrie (1859).[1]

Other examples of Deck's Iznik-style dishes can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1985.225), the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (accession no. 226-1896), and the Louvre, Abu Dhabi (accesion no. LAD 2012.016). Most similar of all is a dish in the British Museum, London (accession no. 1993,0715.1), dated 1870.

[1] Rudoe, J. Decorative Arts 1850–1950. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection. London: British Museum, 1994, cat. 380.