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Lot Essay
This spectacular Iznik jar belongs a group probably produced in the second decade of the sixteenth century, under the reign of Selim I (r.1512-20). It is decorated in a style that owes much to the so-called Baba Nakkaş’ style with its rumi-hayati motifs that developed from the Abraham of Kutahya style. Here, as on other examples of similar period, the motifs have altered slightly such that they have an inflated quality which slightly obscures the spiraling movement of the stems.
A very similar jar is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art attributed by Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby to circa 1520 (inv.no.M.85.237.80; published Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pp.106-7, cat.127). Not does it share a very similar main register, with fleshy hayati flowerheads on white ground, but the band above with the vine of flowerheads reserved against cobalt-blue ground is also closely related. Both of these features can also be found on the exterior of a basin in the V&A, attributed to the workshop of the ‘Master of the Knots’, circa 1510-20 (inv.no.7409-1860; published Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., pp.98-99, no.112) and a group of mosque lamps made for the tomb of Sultan Beyazid (one of which was offered in these Rooms, 24 October 2019, lot 166) all attributed by Atasoy and Raby to the ‘Master of the Lotuses’ and datable to 1512.
Jars of this type were likely used as storage containers. A miniature in a copy of the Baharistan of Jami (produced in Istanbul between 1595-1603) illustrates a fruit seller’s shop. On the counter are a number of jars, some with lids and/or handles, others without, very similar to ours (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., p.47). The earliest known example, squatter than ours, copies a Chinese shape and dates from the end of the 15th century (in the V&A, inv.no.C.57-1952).
Interestingly, the influence of the Baba Nakkaş phase was felt well into the second half of the 16th century, and mostly in jars, where potters produced vessels of similar form to that seen here retaining elements of the style although in debased form. See for example a jar, attributed to circa 1560, in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples (inv.no.118; published Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., no.521).
A very similar jar is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art attributed by Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby to circa 1520 (inv.no.M.85.237.80; published Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pp.106-7, cat.127). Not does it share a very similar main register, with fleshy hayati flowerheads on white ground, but the band above with the vine of flowerheads reserved against cobalt-blue ground is also closely related. Both of these features can also be found on the exterior of a basin in the V&A, attributed to the workshop of the ‘Master of the Knots’, circa 1510-20 (inv.no.7409-1860; published Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., pp.98-99, no.112) and a group of mosque lamps made for the tomb of Sultan Beyazid (one of which was offered in these Rooms, 24 October 2019, lot 166) all attributed by Atasoy and Raby to the ‘Master of the Lotuses’ and datable to 1512.
Jars of this type were likely used as storage containers. A miniature in a copy of the Baharistan of Jami (produced in Istanbul between 1595-1603) illustrates a fruit seller’s shop. On the counter are a number of jars, some with lids and/or handles, others without, very similar to ours (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., p.47). The earliest known example, squatter than ours, copies a Chinese shape and dates from the end of the 15th century (in the V&A, inv.no.C.57-1952).
Interestingly, the influence of the Baba Nakkaş phase was felt well into the second half of the 16th century, and mostly in jars, where potters produced vessels of similar form to that seen here retaining elements of the style although in debased form. See for example a jar, attributed to circa 1560, in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples (inv.no.118; published Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., no.521).