Iznik Dish; Turkey, 17th century. Glazed ceramic. Size:... Lot 15

Iznik Dish; Turkey, 17th century. Glazed ceramic. Size: 6 x 29.5 cm. As is common in Islamic ceramics, the decoration on this piece is organised in bands delimited by smooth lines, a larger one occupying the central area, and other smaller ones located on the sides. The central area of the dish is decorated with flowers and ornamental elements that house complex compositions of leaves and vegetal scrolls. The band around the outer perimeter is decorated with synthesised vegetal ornamentation. Pottery is one of the main artistic manifestations of Islamic culture. Muslim potters produced a wide range of everyday objects and tiles from the earliest times, using designs directly derived from metalwork and book illumination. One of the most brilliant moments in Islamic ceramics occurred in the Ottoman sphere in the 15th and 16th centuries, and within the Ottoman Empire the production of the city of Iznik was particularly noteworthy. Iznik ware, or Iznik earthenware, named after the town of ?znik in western Anatolia where it was produced, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century to the end of the 17th century. ?znik was an established centre for the production of plain earthenware pottery with underglaze decoration when, in the last quarter of the 15th century, the town's craftsmen began to produce high-quality ceramics painted with cobalt-blue under a transparent colourless lead glaze. The designs combined traditional Ottoman arabesque patterns with Chinese elements. The change was almost certainly the result of the active intervention and patronage of the newly established Ottoman court in Istanbul, which highly valued Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.