A very fine and rare fritware border tile in the style of Baba Nakkaç, decorated with a series of fine interlaced knots linked by a large palmette motif at either end, encased with split-arabesque design and punctuated by a large scalloped rim ogival. The whole bordered on both sides with a fine series of arched motifs, painted in powder-blue against an opaque-white ground.

Turkey
Circa 1506-1507
Tomb of Şehzade Mahmud, Bursa
9.5 x 35.4cm

Notes:
Formerly in the Collection of an ex French diplomat posted in Egypt around 1900
French Private Collection Tours, since 1985.

The decoration on these tiles demonstrates that the aesthetic of white decoration reserved against a blue ground continued into the early 16th century (H. Bilgi, Dance of Fire. Iznik Tiles and Ceramics in the Sadberk Hanim Museum and Ömer M. Koç Collections, Istanbul, 2009, pp. 50-51, no.5). However in this period the decoration became more open with a lighter tone of blue, an increase in the relative size of minor motifs and the introduction of contrasting zones of white ground.

Few similar tiles are in museums and private collections.

Literature:

Dance of Fire: Iznik Tiles and Ceramics in the Sadberk Hanim Museum and Omer M. Koç Collection, Hülya Bilgi, Istanbul, 2009, p. 50, pl. 5.
Guide to Tiles, Arthur Lane, London, 1939, pl. 13k.
Islamic Art in The Kuwait National Museum, The al-Sabah Collection, M. Jenkins, London, 1983, p. 116
Iznik ,The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, Nurhan Atasoy & Julian Raby, London, 1989, p. 87, and pg. 91, fig. 81-82.
Iznik Pottery, John Carswell, London, 1998, p. 38, ill.18.
Later Islamic Poetry, Arthur Lane, London, 1971, pl. 23c