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Lot 235

A Rustem Pasha Iznik pottery Tile
Turkey, circa 1560

10 April 2008, 14:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £7,200 inc. premium

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A Rustem Pasha Iznik pottery Tile
Turkey, circa 1560

decorated in cobalt-blue, turquoise and red with black outlining on a crisp white ground, the design consisting of a design of split-leaf arabesques of rumi leaves, the radiating intertwined stems connecting a central rosette to half-rosettes on the sides and at the corners to create a whirling movement
25.7 x 22.3 cm.

Footnotes

This magnificent underglaze-painted tile is a superb of example of one of the most celebrated Iznik designs associated with the Mosque of Rustem Pasha in Istanbul created in 1561. Tiles with the same pattern decorate the rear wall of the mosque around the (Ahmet Ertug and Walter Denny, Gardens of Paradise: 16th Century Turkish Ceramic Tile Design, 1998, p. 53, pl. 24).

The Rustem Pasha Mosque was built by the architect Sinan and was completed in 1562, a year after Rustem Pasha's death. It was the first Ottoman building to utilize tiles in the newly developed polychrome technique, with the colour red finally reaching maturity, and the first major Iznik tile decorative project in Ottoman history.

Other examples of tiles of this type can be seen in the Sadberk Museum, Istanbul (Ara Altun, John Carswell and Gonul Oney, Sadberk Hanim Museum: Turkish Tiles and Ceramics, Istanbul, 1991, p. 40, I.59); and the David Collection, Copenhagen (Kjeld von Folsach, Islamic Art: The David Collection, Copenhagen, 1990, p. 133, no. 203).

Additional information