Author
Unknown
Publication Date
1550
Publication Place
Iznik (made) -
Subject
Flowers
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
Diameter: 33.6cm, Height: 4.5cm
Library
Victoria and Albert Museum
Library Asset ID
C.1986-1910
Record ID
C.1986-1910
Library Location
Middle East Section
Date
1550
Notes
This bowl was probably made in Iznik in north-west Anatolia. After 1520, the potters there gradually expanded their range of colours. By 1550, they were using blue, turquoise, sage green, tones of mauve and purple, and a greenish black. These colours have been used here to depict a spray of flowers that rises from a small clump of leaves. Iznik has given its name to some of the most accomplished ceramics produced in the Islamic Middle East. In the mid 15th century, potters there specialised in modest earthenware imitations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. But in the 1460s or 1470s, under the patronage of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, they began to manufacture bowls, dishes and other pieces of fritware that were elegant in shape and decoration, and often very large.
Tarihsel bağlam
Details like the cloudbands in the three largest flowers and the particular shade of sage green allow us to link this fine Iznik bowl to the atelier of an artist named Musli, who was active around the middle of the sixteenth century and is known from a mosque lamp he signed.
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed Fritware Underglazing
Fiziksel açıklama
Shallow dish with floral spray in light and dark blue, green, and grayish purple; sinuous cloud bands in the three largest flowers.
Üslup
Iznik Ottoman
