A rare early Ottoman cuerda seca pottery tile, Turkey, first half of 16th century

decorated in yellow, ultramarine blue, turquoise, green and pale purple, with a symmetrical design based on a central eight-pointed star from which radiate split-palmettes with lotuses at the centre, and clasps and other flowers between, with pairs of half-flowers at the centre of each side

Tiles of this general type form panels on the exterior of the Arz Odasi (Hall of Petitions or Throne Room) and the Sünnet Odasi (Circumsion Pavilion) in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul (see Rogers, J.M., (ed.), The Topkapi Saray Museum. Architecture: the harem and other buildings, London, 1988, pls. 97 and 111). The work of a band of Persian craftsmen whose most elaborate accomplishment was the tiling of the interior of the turbe of Selim II (1522) in Bursa, their final work seems to have been the mosque of Kasim Pasha at Bozüyük (1529), after which they moved to Jerusalem to assist with the tiling of the exterior of the Dome of the Rock as part of Sultan Süleyman's project for the restoration of the holy places of Islam.