拍品专文
The present dish takes to a wonderful flowing abstraction one of the best known of all Ottoman designs, the cintamani double tiger stripe, using it unrelieved by any other motif. Much has been written on the subject of cintamani designs, particularly focussing on its origins and symbolism (Paquin, G.: 'Çintamani', HALI 64, August 1992, pp.104-119, for example). Both elements thereof, the double stripes and the groups of three balls with displaced centres, are used together and separately. They are found particularly on pottery, textiles and rugs of both the 16th and 17th centuries. A dish dating from around 1535 in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul, which combines both elements of the design in a blue and white palette (Atasoy, N. and Raby, J.: Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.319), demonstrates the use of the motif at Iznik. The famous portrait of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan shows him wearing a cintamani stripe kaftan (Treasures of Islam, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1985, no.106, p.134). A child's kaftan in the Victoria and Albert Museum has an almost identical design (The Arts of Islam, exhibition catalogue, London, 1976, no.22, p.82). The use of the motif in Iznik pottery in the second quarter of the century is demonstrated by a dish in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul, which combines both elements of the design in a blue and white palette (Atasoy, N. and Raby, J.: Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.319.
On technical grounds this bowl can also be dated to the second quarter of the century. It belongs to a very rare group of vessels decorated solely in black on a white ground. Two examples are published: a dish with low rounded sides now also in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, sold at Sotheby's 16 April 1987, lot 359 (and previously published in Petsopoulos, Y. (ed.): Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans, exhibition catalogue, London, 1982, no.79, also Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., no.331); and a dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with similar radiating floral design, (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit, no.215). Typical of the black colour, as seen here, is the slight turquoise bleed onto the white where the glaze is thickest. After the experiment demonstrated by these very few vessels, the black was only used as an outline colour. Unusually on this bowl the underside of the foot uses a cream slip rather than the pure white slip on the rest of the body. This precedes the occasional use of a contrasting colour slip under the foot of dishes later in the century.
On technical grounds this bowl can also be dated to the second quarter of the century. It belongs to a very rare group of vessels decorated solely in black on a white ground. Two examples are published: a dish with low rounded sides now also in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, sold at Sotheby's 16 April 1987, lot 359 (and previously published in Petsopoulos, Y. (ed.): Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans, exhibition catalogue, London, 1982, no.79, also Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., no.331); and a dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with similar radiating floral design, (Atasoy and Raby, op.cit, no.215). Typical of the black colour, as seen here, is the slight turquoise bleed onto the white where the glaze is thickest. After the experiment demonstrated by these very few vessels, the black was only used as an outline colour. Unusually on this bowl the underside of the foot uses a cream slip rather than the pure white slip on the rest of the body. This precedes the occasional use of a contrasting colour slip under the foot of dishes later in the century.