Dish with coat of arms

This dish with its floral spray bears a coat of arms in the centre. Decorated in blue, green and red, it belongs to a set of nine entire pieces and a fragment discovered in excavations in Iznik. All bear the same coat of arms[1] and have the same form. This form, which appears to have developed in Turkey from 1525-1530, seems to have been inspired by the Italian tondino, with its shallow cavetto and broad flattened rim. Tondini produced in Iznik have a variety of decorations[2].

Made in the celebrated centre of ceramic production since the Byzantine period, the dish is composed of a white paste containing quartz and lead frit. The slip layer and the glaze contain the same composition. With the development of this new composition in the 1470s-1480s, Ottoman ceramics rivalled Chinese porcelain (which was highly prized at the court) in its sheen and brilliance. The influence of this innovation is discernable in Europe: Chinese and Turkish ceramics imported into Venice probably served as prototypes for Venetian attempts to imitate porcelain from the sixteenth century[3].

The bright red and emerald green pigments are characteristic of the palette developed in the middle of the sixteenth century. This piece can be dated to after 1557, when red appeared for the first time in accents on the calligraphic curves of the decoration of the Süleymaniye Mosque (Istanbul). The first datable object containing this red, obtained by the application of a thick slip of iron oxide mixed with quartz under glaze, is a lamp thought to have been produced for the mosque[4].

The dominant flowers depicted on the dish are blue hyacinth and red roses, open and in bud, with tight petals. The base of the spray is surrounded by dog roses on one side and a small red and white flower on the other. These flowers together with tulips, not represented here, constitute the ‘flower’ style, which originated in the 1540s in the book illustrations workshops of the Ottoman Palace[5], and reached the height of its development in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. This decorative idiom was employed in other branches of the decorative arts, such as illuminated manuscripts, textiles and carpets where, in spite of the inherent technical constraints, weavers were able to render with great naturalism the different varieties of flowers[6]. The ‘flower’ style had an undoubted influence on French decorative arts from the seventeenth century, when the faïence workshops of Nevers (France) produced a series with four flowers on a blue ground[7]. under the direction of Kara Memi

The coat of arms motif comprises a shield per bend on a bend gules between two comets azure and argent. This shield has been the topic of some research. A. Lane attributed it to the Venetian Mocenigo family: a member of the family negotiated a peace agreement with the Ottomans in 1570-1577. J. Raby attributes it possibly to the Dalmatian family, Spingarolli de Dessa, in light of certain similarities in design of the shields and also the importance of the trade links between Dubrovnik and the Ottomans in the sixteenth century. It has been compared to no fewer than eight blazons of Italian or Dalmatian families.

This type of ceramic demonstrates the European admiration in the sixteenth century for Ottoman objects. This predilection no doubt resulted in the commission of tableware such as this. In Veneto in the seventeenth century, the production of candiane ceramics with decoration inspired by Iznik ceramics is another manifestation of the high regard in which Ottoman pieces were held in Italy.

[2] See, for example, the tondino with tughra decoration, Iznik, Turkey 1535-1545, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, inv. X.3274.

[3] On this subject, cf. the article by Maria Vittoria Fontana, ‘L’influence islamique sur la production de céramique à Venise et à Padoue’, in Venise et l’Orient, 2006.

[4] Mosque lamp with medallions, Iznik, Turkey c. 1557, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 131-1885.

[5] Illuminated and ‘lacquered’ binding of the collection of Forty Hadith dedicated to Sehzade Mehmet, anonymous in the style of Kara Memi, Turkey, c. 1540, Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, inv. E.H. 2851.

[6] Velvet panel with carnations in velvet, silk, gold and silver thread in the Soustiel collection (Bursa or Istanbul, Turkey C16th). The large carnations contain a spray of tulips, dog roses, hyacinth and carnations.

[7] Persian blue plate, ceramic, France, Nevers, second half of C17 th - first half of C18th, Saumur, Château-musée, inv. 919-13-1-0294.