TURKEY, 17TH CENTURY

18th-century tombak ewer and basins like those sold at Sotheby's 23 October 2019, lot 287, and another 26 April 2023, lot 124, are defined by an open floral style of decoration on the ewers. Though the ewers have a similar profile to our lot, the basins are quite different, with wide rims which stretch beyond the sides of the body beneath. The dating for this group is based on examples with incised inscriptions, such as a ewer sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 196, which was dated to AH 1188 / 1774-5 AD.

Our example is different because of its overall decoration, drawing on the vocabular of saz leaves and arabesque palmettes associated with the arts of the Ottoman court in the 17th century. A strikingly similar ewer and basin was sold Sotheby's London, 18 April 2007, lot 81. On it, the decoration was reversed, the saz leaves appear around the rim of the basin while the open arabesque palmettes appear on the bulbous sides of the ewer, below a register of cypress trees similar to ours. Cypress trees like this are also found on earlier tombak works, such as a chamfron which is attributed to the 16th century by Yanni Petsopolous, Tulips, Arabesques, and Turbans: Decorative Arts of the Ottoman Empire, London, 1982, no.16d, p.41. A luxurious example of a ewer and basin set with a similar profile, though largely lacking in incised decoration, is in the Topkapi Palace Museum: an inscription on it states that it 'belongs to the mother of Sultan Mehmed Han', Hatice Turhan Sultan (d.1687), allowing it to be dated securely to the 17th century (acc.no. 25 / 3852 and 25 / 3853; published Harem: House of the Sultan, Istanbul, 2012, p.258, no.145).