A calligraphic Iznik pottery tile, Turkey, circa 1580
Auction Closed
October 26, 12:30 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
of rectangular form, painted in underglaze cobalt blue, emerald green and relief red, outlined in black, decorated with a monumental white thuluth inscription reserved against a cobalt blue ground, a cintamani motif and a tulip to the lower edge with red and green detailing
21 by 24.8cm.
Ex-collection Zeïneb et Jean-Pierre Marcie-Rivière.
The inscription is a fragment of a verse in Ottoman Turkish:
'Its stone is ruby and its rose garden (?)…'
This tile originally would have formed part of a calligraphic frieze. The references to stone, ruby and possibly a rose garden in the inscription are entirely appropriate for an architectural inscription. A complete panel of similar calligraphic tiles including the border can be seen in situ in the Atik Valide Mosque in Istanbul and a further example is published in Hülya Bilgi, Dance of Fire: Iznik Tiles and Ceramics in the Sadberk Hanim Museum and Ömer M. Koç Collections, 2009, pp.192-3, cat. no.97. For a calligraphic panel with similar stylised floral motifs, see Ahmet Ertuğ and Walter Denny, Gardens of Paradise: 16th Century Turkish Ceramic Tile Decoration, 1998, p.94.
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