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The Vincent Bulent Collection Collecting Iznik Pottery Iznik pottery has been highly prized in Europe since the time of its original manufacture. In the sixteenth century various vessels were applied with very elaborate silver mounts to enhance their importance. A small number of these have survived with English mounts; there is also a contemporaneous German mount which survives bearing the inscription which translates "In Nicea (Iznik) I was wrought and now to Halle in Saxony brought in the year 1582". Iznik designs also strongly influenced the design of European pottery of the period, most notably Italian maiolica. While in the eighteenth century interest in the field waned considerably, there was a strong upsurge in the middle nineteenth century, as part of the interest in Orientalism deriving from the Romantic movement earlier that century. The catalogue of a loan exhibition at the South Kensington Museum in June 1862 notes of "Persian Ware" as it was known at the time that: "This very characteristic and beautiful variety of pottery has, within the last few years (only), become a very favourite category with amateurs and collectors. Of its origin or history we know very little with absolute certainty; the great majority of the specimens have been brought to this country from Italy, where they were preserved as curiosities, mingled and often confounded with the majolica wares and ancient oriental porcelains, formerly so abundant in the private collections, china-closets, &c. of the old families of that country". Lenders to the exhibition included A. W. Franks, C. D. E. Fortnum, H. G. Bohn, with by far the largest proportion of items coming from the collection of Louis Huth. Iznik tiles and pottery began to appear in paintings and the tiles were also incorporated into decorative interiors at this time. One of the best examples is Leighton House, and particularly its Arab Hall, the wonderful Orientalist interior in West London dating from the 1870s. This was built for Frederick, Lord Leighton, who as a painter was also president of the Royal Academy. Contemporary photographs show that he also had a substantial collection of Iznik pottery vessels, a group which was subsequently dispersed at Christie's in 1896 (see illustration on pp. 10-11 in this catalogue). At this time the market was driven by collectors in England, and prices there continued to rise very strongly. Led by a small group including such famous names as Frederick du Cane Godman, George Salting, Ralph Brocklebank, Charles Hercules Read, Henry Wallis, Henry Pfungst and Calouste Gulbenkian, their collections, with additions from some other collectors, formed another outstanding loan exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1907. These same collections subsequently formed what are now the core elements of the collections at the British Museum and at the Victoria and Albert Museum, making them possibly the two most impressive institutional collections in the world. France, the country where Orientalism found its greatest support, was also home to many collectors at this time. Edouard Aynard is the best known of a group of collectors in Lyon, while in Paris Iznik formed part of the remarkable collections of Islamic Art formed by the Comtesse de Behague, Edmond Guerin and Henri Rene d'Allemagne (see pp. 44-45 in this catalogue). The Government was also interested, purchasing for the Musee de Cluny between 1865 and 1878 over five hundred Iznik vessels which had almost all been collected in Rhodes by Consul Salzmann. In contrast to England, where interest appears to have waned after the First World War, the collectors in France were very active in the inter-war years with a number of new buyers coming into the market. Paris was also a centre for a group of Armenians who were very important within the market at this time. Best known among these was Charles Kelekian; others whose names are also very well known are Ispenian and Kevorkian. They could also profit from the fact that Paris was the centre for the European Art market, particularly at auction at this time, so there was a succession of good pieces available for sale there. In time these Armenians and their descendants were instrumental in encouraging the market in America to become established. One group of vessels that came up for auction in Paris, in 1906, was the collection of Hakki Bey. This is one of the earliest indicators that the market was also strong in the Islamic world. In 1925 the Exposition d'Art Musulman in Alexandria demonstrated clearly the very strong following that Iznik pottery had achieved there. About one third of the entire catalogue of all the decorative arts of the Islamic World is devoted to Iznik pottery. Chief among the lenders noted in the catalogue are Alexander Benaki and Ch. A. Nomikos, showing how that it was particularly among the Greek community there that these wares had their greatest appreciation. Almost all the other names at that time are also Greek. In addition to the Greek community, the largest collection of Iznik pottery to have been dispersed since 1940 also came from Alexandria, formed by Fernand Adda, an Alexandrine banker. His collection of over two hundred Iznik vessels was sold hugely successfully in Paris in 1965. It is only relatively recently that collectors have become active within Turkey itself. From the 1980s more and more Turks have come into the market, buying back the artistic heritage which was exported in the preceding century. Private and national museums were formed to display their holdings and slowly the collections there have been built up. Today they are a major force within the market. The Vincent Bulent Collection was formed very much in the tradition of the long line of European collectors. From the 1970s when the first vessel was purchased until just after the new milennium began when the most recent was added, it was the brilliance of the design and colouring that appealed. Housed in a specially commissioned showcase, arranged on five long shelves, the overall impact was a spectacular riot of colour. All were purchased in the market in the West, with the vast majority having come from auctions in London and Paris. When deciding on a purchase, the historical provenance of each piece was an important consideration. The end result is a collection which is the largest collection of Iznik to have been dispersed since the Adda Collection in 1965. It includes magnificent examples of a very wide range of Iznik designs from the classic period of the second half of the sixteenth century, chosen with an eye to the vibrancy of the composition and the quality of the tonality. Added to this core are a few carefully selected vessels from the periods before and after, including some of the most impressive blue and white dishes ever made. As much as the development and outstanding aesthetic of the Iznik ateliers however, the collection demonstrates through the combined provenance of every vessel, the remarkable history of collecting Iznik in the last 150 years. THE VINCENT BULENT COLLECTION AT 2.30PM PRECISELY Frederick DuCane Godman (1834-1919) Although no piece in this collection comes from the Godman Collection, it is impossible to discuss collectors in the field without mentioning him. He was one of the most prolific British collectors of Iznik ceramics, representing the second generation of collectors, following on from Louis Huth and others. He began his collection in 1865, possibly inspired by his 1854 visit to Constantinople as a student, but also possibly as a result of the South Kensington Museum loan exhibition of 1862 noted in the introduction. He ended up amassing a superlative group of 144 Iznik pieces. Although Iznik ceramics had been appreciated as exotic rarities in Western collections before this date, Godman was the first to approach the subject with the serious eye of the encyclopaedic collector, seeking out only the best examples of each type. It was Godman who discovered the blue and white jug with the date 1510 and place Kutahya which defined the so-called 'Kutahya' group. His purchase of a bowl with inscriptions in Turkish convinced Sir Wollaston Franks of the Turkish origins of Iznik ceramics, which were hitherto universally described as "Persian" ware. Godman was a major contributor to the 1907 exhibition of "Faience of Persia and the Nearer East" at the Burlington Fine Arts Club. He later diversified his collection to include Hispano-Moresque pottery and lustreware tiles. The entire collection was donated to the British Museum in 1982. Ralph Brocklebank Brocklebank was one of the collectors inspired by Godman's lead. As a Member of Parliament he was remembered for introducing a bill whereby marriages had to take place before 11am to ensure the sobriety of the groom! Although he only loaned one piece to the 1907 Burlington House exhibition, his collection was very considerable by the time of his death. Some of it was left to Magdalen College, Oxford, while other parts were left to members of his family.

AN IZNIK POTTERY JUG

OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570

Details

AN IZNIK POTTERY JUG
OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1570
Of baluster form, with short foot rising to flaring mouth and with simple loop handle, the white body decorated with cobalt-blue, green and red-bole under the clear glaze, with alternating branches with red berries and blue saz leaves, a similar but reduced pattern on the neck, a plaited border with blue fringe at the waist and a border of simple scrolls just below the mouth, one small chip at the mouth
7 7/8in. (19.8cm.) high

Provenance

With Durlacher, circa 1899
Ralph Brocklebank, London, thence by descent until sold in these Rooms 3 May 1977, lot 160

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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