The cypress tree, though known to Ottoman artists in the fifteenth century, did not become a widespread ceramic motif until after the middle of the sixteenth century. Here the cypress is the central element in a somewhat rigid yet not quite symmetrical composition that includes red carnations, pale blue hyacinths, and flowing saz leaves overlaid with tulips.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Dish with Cypress Tree, Saz Leaves, and Roses
Date:ca. 1575–80
Geography:Attributed to Turkey, Iznik
Medium:Stonepaste; polychrome painted under transparent glaze
Dimensions:H. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) Diam. 11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1966
Accession Number:66.4.8
Platter
Iznik is the ancient and Byzantine Nicaza. From about 1555 until about 1700 the Iznik kilns were producing tiles and vessels with a polychrome color scheme–a ware that was the latest and the longest-lived of the three types produced in this center, the earliest type being that dicussed in no. 40.181.11 (cat. no. 107 in this volume). The most predominant of the new colors added to the palette during this phase was a sealing-wax red, which was applied so thickly as to stand up in relief.
The most popular designs on this ware were floral, more particularly, growing, plants. The most characteristic flowers are the rose, bluebell, hyacinth, carnation, and tulip. Cypress trees are also often found.
A platter with a narrow flat rim such as is seen here was one of the favorite shapes early in this phase of Iznik production.
Marilyn Jenkins in [Berlin 1981]
Dish
This dish exemplifies the classical type of Iznik ware. The introduction of the tomato red to the color scheme in the middle of the sixteenth century marked a turning point in the Ottoman ceramic industry. Applied in thick impasto, this brilliant red added exuberance to the mostly floral motifs depicted free-hand on tiles and vessels. Roses, tulips, carnations, and hyacinths were the most popular motifs. Large serrated leaves and cypress trees are also commonly found.
Iznik ware of this period tends to represent its floral themes in a naturalistic context. Instead of an abstract, floating world of flowers and leaves, in this dish, for example, the cypress tree grows out of a grassy clump and itself creates a support from which all other flowers stem. Although the vertical axis of the tree and the symmetrical arrangement of the motifs undermine the arbitrariness of the natural world, subtle variations in floral types and color schemes succesfully evoke a perpetual spring.
Sussan Babaie in [Walker et al. 1994]A
Marking: - Sticker below base in ink: No 6 - Sticker below base in ink: 827
Fernand Adda Collection(by 1959–65; sale, Palais Galliéra, Paris,December 3, 1965, no. 827, to Marthe Baschet for MMA)
Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 101.
The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowers and Leaves: The Ottoman Pottery of Iznik," September 25, 1991–November 15, 1992, no catalogue.
Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 58.
Rackham, Bernard. "Illustrated Catalogue of a Private Collection [Adda]." In Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica. London: Faber and Faber, 1959. no. 150, p. 39, ill. pl. 64.
"Paris, December 3, 1965." In Collection d'un Grand Amateur (Adda). Paris, December 3, 1965. no. 827.
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 101, pp. 242–43, ill. (b/w).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahli, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 58, pp. 160–61, ill. (color).
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