Provenance: Christie's South Kensington, 2004;
Collection of a prominent British interior designer.

A striking Iznik border tile, domianted by vibrant blue and red with green highlights. The larger section comprises typically Ottoman split palmette arabesques in reserve against the cobalt blue ground, interlocking with Chinese-inspired red ruyi clouds.

The smaller section of the tile is decorated with a carnation, a tulip, and saz leaves against a red ground, all of which are typical of the period 1560–1580.[1]

Similar red ruyi clouds on a cobalt b lue ground are seen on a tile in the Louvre, Paris (no. OA 2064), dated to the 16th century. Another tile in the same museum (no. OA 3919/285) has a similar split palmette arabesque with curling fronds highlighted with green. A border tile with similar motifs and the same colour palette, also in the Louvre (no. AD 277766), is dated to the second half of the 16th century.

[1] Hitzel, Fréderic and Jacotin, Mireille, Iznik: L’aventure d’une collection. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2005, 119, 133.