Tondino with portrait of a young man

The principal subject of this tondino is the bust of a man in profile wearing a small bonnet with a feather. He is placed within a natural environment, represented by seven small hills, on one of which stands a church. The decoration of the wide rim comprises eight mandorlas, each containing a spray of five tulips in bud opening into flower reserved against a background of interlocking motifs.

The plate with its slightly concave cavetto surrounded by an exceptionally wide rim is inspired from the Italian form[1] which developed from the 1520s in Ottoman Turkey and displayed a variety of decorative styles[2].

The technique used is characteristic of the ceramics produced in the Iznik workshops from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Typified by the use of a paste, slip and glaze each containing a large proportion of lead frit, it was admired for its technical and aesthetic qualities in the Western regions of the Mediterranean Basin. Historical sources affirm that the Ottoman ceramics, imported in vast numbers to Venice, served as models for Venetian productions of pieces alla porcellana[3] and candiane. Thus, in 1518, Leonardo Peringer petitioned for the privilege of producing in Venice: ‘good and excellent works of porcelain such as those from the Levant which are transparent[4]’.

The range of colours, and in particular sage green, characterises Iznik productions from the end of the first quarter of the sixteenth century. There are several extant examples of such dishes with bracket-lobed rims and with ‘saz’ leaf decoration[5].

The interlocking designs on the rim recall the decoration of Chinese porcelain of the Ming period, the presence of which in Ottoman Turkey is documented from the end of the fifteenth century. It exemplifies the movement of exported objects to the Timurid court of Iran and Ottoman court of Turkey. Two tondini of the Museum of Ecouen[6] display the same decoration. The mandorlas alternate with two groups of three sequins, a design originating from Buddhist and Hindu cintemani. Talismanic in origin, the cintemani was adopted for its decorative qualities in ceramics and textiles. Mandorlas and sprays of flowers are widely employed in ceramics, as in other Ottoman decorative arts. Here the stylisation of their treatment recalls the art of textiles[7].

The background of this tondino is however unique in Ottoman ceramics. The portrait of the man who, if not a Turk is at least dressed as such, in this landscape is enigmatic. The landscape is all the more vibrant for having been rapidly sketched. The very graphic rendering of the bell tower is reminiscent of small Islamic architectural studies on a ceramic jug in the Cinili Kiosk[8]. Contrary to the stylised landscape, the young man is depicted with a concern for naturalism. There are nicely observed details (the Adam’s apple, the position of the eyebrow and details of the hair) in which the influence of Italian majolica of the sixteenth century is quite apparent[9]. Portraiture in profile appears in the numismatic arts[10] practised by the Venetian, Gentile Bellini, the official painter sent to the court of Mehmet II from 1479 to 1481. This portrait constitutes an example of the transmission and flowering of this genre to the Ottoman court from the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Portraiture remains marginal in Ottoman ceramics, and this piece is therefore exceptional. It demonstrates the existence of artistic exchanges between Turkey and Italy in the sixteenth century.

[2] For example, tondino decorated with spirals, Iznik, Turkey, 1530-1540, Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. D 167. See also Atasoy and Raby, 1990, p. 119.

[3] Plate with foliage alla porcellana, Venice, 1540-1550, Berlin, Fioritura collection, Heinz & Jertha Kuckei; concave plate candiane, Padua, 1613, Musei Civici.

[4] According to the research of Lane, A., La porcellana Italiana, Florence, 1963.

[5] Dish with peacock, Iznik, Turkey, 1540-1555, Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. K 3449.

[6] Écouen, musée national de la Renaissance, inv. E.CI.7711 et E.CI.7712.

[7] Textile with flowering mandorlas, Turkey, C16th, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. SZT 1442/127082.

[8] White and blue jug, Iznik, Turkey, first quarter of the C16th, Istanbul, Cinili Kiosk, inv. 7591.

[9] See, for example, the tondino of Cafaggiolo, 1515, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 5763-1859.

[10] Medallions in cast bronze probably by Bartolomeo Bellano, Istanbul, end 1479 - beginning 1480, London, British Museum (inv. CM 1883.3-3.1) and Venice, Galleria G. Franchetti alla Ca’d’Oro, inv. ME 88.