OTTOMAN TURKEY, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

A bowl with very similar design but without the polychrome enamels of ours is in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, attributed to the early 18th century (inv.no.15699-M.1253; Brigitte Pitarakis and Christos Merantzas, A Treasured Memory. Ecclesiastical Silver from the Late Ottoman Istanbul in the Sevgi Gönül Collection, Istanbul, 2006, no.62, pp.62-63). So close are the two that they must have been produced in the same workshop. In the catalogue the authors write that the bowl represents a rich combination of artistic elements deriving from Islamic, Byzantine and Western baroque traditions and that it was probably produced in a multicultural artistic centre (op.cit., p.153).