An Iznik polychrome dish, Turkey, circa 1575

of rounded form painted in underglaze cobalt blue, veridian green and relief red and outlined in black decorated with a boat design, the rim with breaking wave motif

A dish of similar design is in the Louvre, Paris (see Denny 2004, p.180) and another is illustrated in Raby and Atasoy 1989, p.280, no. 650.  The boats depicted are single-masted Mediterranean coasters with their distinctive triangular lateen sale.  Such vessels were a familiar sight in Ottoman waters during the sixteenth century.