An Ottoman Silver Bowl, Balkans, stamped with the tughra of Mehmed IV (r.1648-87)

of broad rounded form with a slightly raised omphalos, the chased decoration consisting of a stylised lion flanked by pomegranates within a border of scrolling plump foliage and tulips and lotiform flowers, the rim with a frieze of hunting beasts and a unicorn, a pointed cartouche stamped with a tughra

Turkophilia, Ottoman Art in Private Collections, Brussels, 2011

Hitzel, F., Turkophilia, Ottoman Art in Private Collections, Paris, 2011, p.32.

Generally good, small split on rim repaired, minor wear and denting, as viewed.
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The decoration of the dish has an exuberance and playfulness typical of many of the designs on silver of this period and equally expressed in its imitations on Iznik pottery.  It forms part of a small group of bowls which share these characteristics and are so closely comparable in technique and composition that they can be attributed to the same workshop (Sothebys, 16th April 1986, lots 58 and 59, and 18th October 2001, lot 120). In the case of this bowl, as with many of the others, a cartouche is provided to receive the stamped tughra. Those recorded for this group suggest that they date primarily from around the first half of the seventeenth century.