Iznik Polychrome Pottery Dish Decorated With Spring Flowers And Two Saz Leaves

Project Details

Iznik Polychrome Pottery Dish Decorated With Spring Flowers And Two Saz Leaves

Ottoman Empire
Second half of the 16^th century
Diameter: 25.5 cm.

With sloping rim, the white interior painted under the glaze in bole-red, cobalt-blue, green and black with a symmetrical arrangement comprising a floral spray of spring flowers, and two saz leaves around a central spray of spring flowers, the border with stylised wave and rock design.

The saz leaf, seen on our dish, 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 10^th or 11^th 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.

A similar Iznik dish decorated with symmetrically arranged spring flowers and two saz leaves is in the Benaki Museum, Athens. See, John Carswell & Mina Moraitou and Melanie Gibson, Iznik Ceramics at the Benaki Museum, Benaki Museum – Gingko, London, 2023, No. 86, p. 143.

Categories: Ceramics
Credits: Ader-Picard-Tajan, Art Islamique, 17 March 1989, Lot 105.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Iznik Polychrome Pottery Dish Decorated With Spring Flowers And Two Saz Leaves

Enquiries