AN IZNIK POTTERY TILE WITH FLORAL VASE, TURKEY, 17TH CENTURY

This tile belongs to a group from the later Iznik period, some of which were made for export to Egypt, notably similar examples in the Aqsunqur Mosque ("Blue Mosque"), Cairo, originally built in 1347 and restored under the Ottomans in 1652. John Carswell notes: "Characteristic of this period are single tiles with a symmetrical spray of carnations and other flowers in a vase. Lacking sufficient orders from the court, the potters turned elsewhere, and it is significant that by the mid-century large quantities of tiles were exported to Egypt" (Carswell 1998, pp.106-7). Further tiles from this group are in the British Museum, London, inv. no. OA+.10771.1-4, which entered the museum collection in the second half of the nineteenth century.