.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This fine Iznik dish is exceptional for the fact that it does not have an extended rim like most of the dishes from this period. The rimless form is known from the 1540s and is sometimes referred to as a sahan, a term found in archive documents to designate something topped with a metal cover (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.44). The gentle swaying movement of the flowers represented on this dish indicate the influence of more naturalistic designs favoured by Kara Memi, the chief painter at the Ottoman court in the later part of the 16th century. He favoured floral arrangements which were often described as ‘blowing in the wind’ for their sense of flow and movement. For a discussion on Kara Memi and his influence on Iznik designs see Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., p.222-3.
A rimless Iznik dish with a similarly finely drawn design of swaying flowers is in the Gulbenkian Collection (inv.no.824; Maria Querios Ribeeiro, Iznik Pottery, Lisbon, 1996, pp.169-70, no.44). Like our dish, the cobalt-blue tulips there are highlighted with a series of red dots. A rimless Iznik dish decorated with a swaying saz leaf, but on cobalt-blue ground sold in these Rooms, 26 October 2017, lot 206.
A rimless Iznik dish with a similarly finely drawn design of swaying flowers is in the Gulbenkian Collection (inv.no.824; Maria Querios Ribeeiro, Iznik Pottery, Lisbon, 1996, pp.169-70, no.44). Like our dish, the cobalt-blue tulips there are highlighted with a series of red dots. A rimless Iznik dish decorated with a swaying saz leaf, but on cobalt-blue ground sold in these Rooms, 26 October 2017, lot 206.