OTTOMAN TURKEY, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

The motif of the sailing ship is one that was used on Iznik pottery since the first days of blue-and-white in the early 16th century, as shown by a famous dish in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv.no.713-1902) and also a fragmentary tile sold in our Paris saleroom, 7 March 2007, lot 144. The struggles against the Venetians, Genoese, Spanish and Portuguese as well as the protection of trade and the need to ensure connections between the major regions of the Empire spurred the growth of the Ottoman naval industry from the 16th century, providing endless inspiration for the potters of Iznik. For a discussion on the development of the design please see Gönül Öney, 'Iznik Pottery Embracing the High Seas', Art and Culture Magazine, Spring 2003, Issue 8, pp.78-81.

This dish has the remains of gilding that can be seen picking out various decorative features. Another Iznik boat dish with this feature is in the collection of Ömer Koç (Hülya Bilgi, The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection, Istanbul, 2015, pp.498-99, no.236). The same collection has another dish decorated with boats that, like ours, is rimless (Bilgi, op.cit., p.491, no.233).