- 289
A rare Ottoman Terra Lemnia pottery ewer, Turkey, circa 1575-1600
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Ceramic
the wheel-thrown, earthenware sub-globular body on a short foot with a tall, everted neck with s-shaped handle, the body carved and impressed with horizontal bands containing geometric designs, partly burnished with gold foliate highlights, number '82' written in ink to underside of foot
Condition
Intact, the interior border with a break along one section, some rim-chips, the surface with some rubbing and losses to gilding, vestige of an adhesive on body, underside with old number '82'
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
inscriptions
stamped 'amalfalak ali hassan'
Terra Lemnia ceramics derive their name from the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea where the special clay from which they are created is sourced. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1453, the year of the fall of the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, the strict excavation of this clay came under Ottoman control. Continuing a tradition whose origins lay in antiquity and appear to have laste throughout the Byzantine period, the clay was only excavated on the sixth day of the month of August, a special feast day, for six hours. The site, referred to as ‘sacred earth’, is known to contain three types of clay. Although a number of accounts exist, a notable description of this clay is by the seventeenth-century Ottoman historian Mustafa Naima. Dividing the clay into three categories according to their value, he describes each one in the following manner: “the reddish, ‘delicately oily’, has a fragrance that overrides the smell of earth, next comes a light yellow earth that is a little sharp to the taste, finally there is an unlimited supply of white clay which is salty to the taste and barely scented” (Raby 1995, p.309). This rare clay was said to hold medicinal properties, including prevention against poison, stomach aches and even the plague. The clay had to be sealed before it could be sold, and although at least eighteen types of seals are known, they all feature ‘tin-i mhahtum’ or ‘sealed earth’ (Raby 1995, p.311).
Further accounts from foreign visitors, including Stefano Albacario, sent to the island by the Hapsburg ambassador, Ogier de Busbecq, in the 1560s, attest to European interest in this phenomenon. This may explain why a number of museums in Europe have examples of terra lemnia in their collections. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, possesses over ten examples, the closest comparable to the present piece being inv. no. OC.110-1938, with its internal filter still intact, giving an idea of what it would have looked like originally. Additional examples are in The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (inv. no. EAX.1787), the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 927-1875) and the British Museum, London.
For a detailed history of Terra Lemnia pottery, see J.Raby, 'Terra Lemnia and the potteries of the Golden Horn: An antique revival under Ottoman auspices' in: Byzantinische Forschungen, Internationale Zeitschrift fur Byzantinistik, Band XXI, Verlad Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1995.
stamped 'amalfalak ali hassan'
Terra Lemnia ceramics derive their name from the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea where the special clay from which they are created is sourced. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1453, the year of the fall of the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, the strict excavation of this clay came under Ottoman control. Continuing a tradition whose origins lay in antiquity and appear to have laste throughout the Byzantine period, the clay was only excavated on the sixth day of the month of August, a special feast day, for six hours. The site, referred to as ‘sacred earth’, is known to contain three types of clay. Although a number of accounts exist, a notable description of this clay is by the seventeenth-century Ottoman historian Mustafa Naima. Dividing the clay into three categories according to their value, he describes each one in the following manner: “the reddish, ‘delicately oily’, has a fragrance that overrides the smell of earth, next comes a light yellow earth that is a little sharp to the taste, finally there is an unlimited supply of white clay which is salty to the taste and barely scented” (Raby 1995, p.309). This rare clay was said to hold medicinal properties, including prevention against poison, stomach aches and even the plague. The clay had to be sealed before it could be sold, and although at least eighteen types of seals are known, they all feature ‘tin-i mhahtum’ or ‘sealed earth’ (Raby 1995, p.311).
Further accounts from foreign visitors, including Stefano Albacario, sent to the island by the Hapsburg ambassador, Ogier de Busbecq, in the 1560s, attest to European interest in this phenomenon. This may explain why a number of museums in Europe have examples of terra lemnia in their collections. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, possesses over ten examples, the closest comparable to the present piece being inv. no. OC.110-1938, with its internal filter still intact, giving an idea of what it would have looked like originally. Additional examples are in The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (inv. no. EAX.1787), the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 927-1875) and the British Museum, London.
For a detailed history of Terra Lemnia pottery, see J.Raby, 'Terra Lemnia and the potteries of the Golden Horn: An antique revival under Ottoman auspices' in: Byzantinische Forschungen, Internationale Zeitschrift fur Byzantinistik, Band XXI, Verlad Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1995.