Iznik Polychrome Pottery Dish Decorated with Tulips and Spring Flowers in Four Medallions

Project Details

Iznik Polychrome Pottery Dish Decorated with Tulips and Spring Flowers in Four Medallions

IZNIK POLYCHROME POTTERY DISH DECORATED WITH TULIPS AND SPRING FLOWERS IN FOUR MEDALLIONS

Ottoman Empire

Second Half of the 16^th Century

Dimensions: 25.5 cm.

Underglaze painted in cobalt blue, coral red, green, black. Decorated with symmetrically designed tulips and spring flowers in four medallions.

In the Ottoman period flowers, decorating the present dish, were a constant part of daily life, grown in gardens everywhere, from palaces to humble homes. Flowers were blessed reminders of the gardens of heaven. Foreign travellers and ambassadors who visited the empire frequently remarked about this love of flowers. The 17^th 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 dish, vases of flowers adorned niches in the walls, dining trays and rows of vases were placed around rooms and pools.

The tulip, repeatedly used on our dish, has a symbolic meaning in Ottoman art. The letters of the word tulip (Lâle) in Turkish and Persian are the same letters used for writing the word Allah (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. 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 16^thcentury. The name ‘tulip’ is thought to have derived from the Turkish word tülbend (from the Persian word 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.

The present dish has a very rare, unusual border. The only similar Iznik dish with a comparable border known to us is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Accession Number C.2040-1910), London. Please see the link, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O211548/plate-unknown/

Provenance

Private UK Collection

Categories: Ceramics

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 Tulips and Spring Flowers in Four Medallions

Enquiries