VesselsOttoman16th century

Dish with foliate rim and grape cluster design

c. 1525-1550

Description

This large Ottoman Iznik dish testifies to the influence of Chinese porcelains on Ottoman pottery. Chinese wares reached Ottoman lands from the early fifteenth-century onwards through trade, gift exchange, and booty. Here, while the common design of three bunches of grapes and vine leaves and the foliated rim of the dish remain true to Chinese models, the loose and spontaneous arrangement of the motifs clearly differentiates it from its prototypes. The intermixing of the early fifteenth-century Ming-dynasty (1368-1644) grape motif and the Yuan-dynasty (1279-1368) wave-and-rock border pattern, as well as the addition of turquoise to the traditional blue-and-white color palette, also attest to the artistic license used by Iznik artisans. Still, Iznik blue-and-white ceramic wares could not aspire to the quality of their porcelain counterparts. While dishes such as this one were most likely used for eating and serving food in the daily lives of the wealthy, Chinese porcelains were the sultan’s wares of choice at the Ottoman court.

Classification

Vessels

Technique

Underglazed, painted

Medium

Underglaze painted fritware

Culture

Ottoman

Period

Ottoman period

Century

16th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

7.5 x 44 cm (2 15/16 x 17 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Edwin Binney, 3rd, (by 1985), bequest; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1985.

Related Artworks

Vessels

Covered Spherical Food Vessel (Dui) with Geometric Decor

Unknown Artist, late 5th century BCE

Cast bronze with traces of malachite and copper-wire inlay

5th century BCEChinese

Vessels

Dish with Rising Lotus Decor

Unknown Artist, 12th century

Carved celadon ware: light gray stoneware with celadon glaze over carved decoration

12th centuryKorean

Vessels

Vase

Unknown Artist, 1569-1081 BCE or later

Alabaster

16th-11th century BCEEgyptian

Vessels

Pair of Tea Caddies in Box

Thomas Ash, 1714-1715; box: c. 1739-1756

Silver and pewter; box: silver, wood, shagreen, and velvet

18th centuryBritish

Vessels

Large Bowl with Decoration of Three Fruiting Branches

Unknown Artist, Yongzheng period, 1723-1735

Red-and-white ware, "youli hong" type: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze copper red; with underglaze cobalt blue mark reading "Da Qing Yongzheng nian zhi" within a double circle on the base

18th centuryChinese

Vessels

Small Dish with Everted Lip and Decoration of Two Fish

Unknown Artist, 12th-13th century

Longquan celadon ware: light gray stoneware with grayish olive celadon glaze over applique decoration

12th-13th centuryChinese

Vessels

Cylindrical Tripod Censer with Decoration of Butterflies Set within Flattened Quatrefoil Panels Against a Ground of Rolling Waves

Unknown Artist, 13th-14th century

Painted Jizhou ware: off-white stoneware with decoration painted in iron-brown slip under a clear glaze. From the kilns at Yonghe, Ji'an, Jiangxi province.

13th-14th centuryChinese

Vessels

Bowl Inscribed with a Saying of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib

Unknown Artist, 10th century

Reddish earthenware covered in white slip and painted with black (manganese and iron) under clear lead glaze

10th century

Vessels

Small Covered Ovoid Jar, the Jar with Short, Flaring Neck, the Lightly Domed Cover with Small, Lotus-Bud-Shaped Knob

Unknown Artist, 8th century

Monochrome lead-glazed ware: white earthenware with lead-fluxed emerald-green glaze on the exterior and lead-fluxed pale yellow glaze on the interior. Probably from kilns at Luoyang or Gongxian, Henan province.

8th centuryChinese