Iznik Dish

Iznik, Ottoman Turkey, c. 1575
Fritware with underglaze decoration
28.5cm diameter, 5.5cm deep
Stock no.: HS73

Provenance: French private collection.

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Iznik Dish

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An Iznik dish decorated with the Quatre Fleurs motif of roses, hyacinths, tulips and prunus blossoms in cobalt blue, viridian green, and bole red, with black outlines against a white ground. Sprouting from the same tuft of grass as the flowers is a large question-mark-shaped saz leaf decorated with raised dots of bole red. The rim is decorated with a stylised rock-and-wave pattern in black and cobalt blue, a motif derived from Chinese blue and white porcelain such as the 15th-century Jiangxi albarello in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (accession no. F1954.117a-b). This motif was used as a background on the wells of Iznik dishes as early as 1540, but it became a standard feature for the rims of dishes by the 1570s.¹ The reverse is plain but for ten small stylised flowers around the cavetto in cobalt blue with black outlines.
The decoration on this dish, sometimes known as ‘storm in a teacup’, typifies the move towards naturalism during the last quarter of the 16th century.² This is exemplified by the rose on the right hand side of the dish, which hangs from a broken stem. This motif, which represents a move away from symmetry and perfectionism, reached its highpoint between 1565 and 1585.³

A dish with very similar composition, dated to c. 1575, is in the Benaki Museum, Athens (no. 27).⁴ Like the present example, a saz leaf bisects the dish, with red roses, a red tulip, and blue hyacinths on either side. Both the rim and reverse motifs are very similar. Another comparative example is held in the Cinquantenaire Museum, Brussels (inv. no. IS.2722), and dated 1550-1600. Like the present example, it features a rock-and-wave rim, and the Quatre Fleurs (including a rose with a broken stem) arranged around a curling saz leaf.

[1] Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. 2nd ed. London: Alexandrian Press, 1989. p. 121.
[2] El-Sayed, Laila. ‘Interpreting Iznik Floral Motifs’, Illuminating Objects, retrieved from https://sites.courtauld.ac.uk/illuminating-objects/illuminating-objects-home/iznik-dish/ on 11/09/2024. 
[3] Hitzel, Frederic, and Mireille Jacotin. Iznik: L’aventure d’une Collection. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2005. p. 177.
[4] Carswell, John, and Mina Moraitou. Iznik Ceramics at the Benaki Museum. Athens: Gingko/The Benaki Museum, 2023. p. 86, cat. 32.