Iznik Dish
Ottoman Turkey, ca. 1580
Fritware painted with white slip and polychrome decoration under a clear glaze
29.5 cm diameter
29.5 cm diameter
HS86
Further images
Provenance: French private collection.
A sixteenth-century Iznik dish decorated with the 'Quatre Fleurs' motif, comprising a symmetrical arrangement of red prunus blossoms, blue tulips, red carnations, and blue hyacinths growing from a tuft of grass. The rim is decorated with a stylised rock-and-wave pattern in black and cobalt blue, a motif derived from Chinese blue-and-white porcelain such as the fifteenth-century Jiangxi albarello in the Freer Gallery of Art (accession no. F1954.117a-b). This motif was used as a background on the wells of Iznik dishes as early as 1540, but it became a standard feature for the rims of dishes by the 1570s.[1]
Two similar Iznik dishes in the Musée de la Renaissance, château d'Écouen (DS 2414 and E.Cl.8124) are dated to ca. 1580. Another (E.Cl.8114), which has similar composition but roses instead of red carnations as the central flower, is dated to ca. 1590.
[1] Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. 2nd ed. London: Alexandrian Press, 1989. p. 121.
A sixteenth-century Iznik dish decorated with the 'Quatre Fleurs' motif, comprising a symmetrical arrangement of red prunus blossoms, blue tulips, red carnations, and blue hyacinths growing from a tuft of grass. The rim is decorated with a stylised rock-and-wave pattern in black and cobalt blue, a motif derived from Chinese blue-and-white porcelain such as the fifteenth-century Jiangxi albarello in the Freer Gallery of Art (accession no. F1954.117a-b). This motif was used as a background on the wells of Iznik dishes as early as 1540, but it became a standard feature for the rims of dishes by the 1570s.[1]
Two similar Iznik dishes in the Musée de la Renaissance, château d'Écouen (DS 2414 and E.Cl.8124) are dated to ca. 1580. Another (E.Cl.8114), which has similar composition but roses instead of red carnations as the central flower, is dated to ca. 1590.
[1] Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. 2nd ed. London: Alexandrian Press, 1989. p. 121.