Ceramic tile, rectangular form, decorated with a large open artichoke design, blossoms and leaves, painted in turquoise and cobalt-blue, emerald-green, tomato-red, black and white, on a black mount.
AKM875, Tile

© The Aga Khan Museum

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On Display
Tile
  • Accession Number:AKM875
  • Place:Turkey, Iznik
  • Dimensions:24.5 x 15 cm
  • Date:1560-1565
  • Materials and Technique:Fritware, underglazed and painted

The Ottoman court valued the small city of Iznik for its tile production. Archival evidence reveals that, on more than one occasion, court officials brought Iznik workshops to task for selling tile shipments intended for the court to merchants instead. [1] 
 
This tile, produced in the final years of Sultan Süleyman’s life, offers an example of the exuberant style that emerged in the late 16th century under court atelier director Kara Memi (a talented pupil of Shah Qulu). Memi inspired floral-infused compositions covering the surfaces of tiles, the mixing of non-figurative motifs, and a whole new range of colours. On this tile from the Aga Khan Museum, large stylized composite blossoms with serrated saz leaves combine with delicate arabesques, graceful branches in bloom, rumis, and palmettes. Its broad palette of colours encompasses white slip, red, blues, and bold emerald green. 
 
- Filiz Çakır Phillip 
 
 

Notes 
1. Atasoy, Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandri Press, 1989), 118; also quoted by Hülya Bilgi, Dance of Fire: Iznik tiles and ceramics in the Sadberk Hanım Museum and Omer M. Koç collections (Istanbul: Vehbi Koç Foundation, 2009), 28. 
 
 
References 
Atasoy, Nurhan and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandria Press, 1989. ISBN:9781856690546 
 
Bilgi, Hülya. Dance of Fire: Iznik tiles and ceramics in the Sadberk Hanım Museum and Omer M. Koç collections. Istanbul: Vehbi Koç Foundation, 2009. OCLC: 854719226 

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