plate, fat

Low footring, flaring sides, lattened rim. Heavy, pinkish stonepaste covered with white slip, painted with blue, black, red and pale bluish green decoration under a clear transparent glaze.
Central medallion has a symmetrically organised floral motrif with blue tulips, red carnation etc. In between the two sides a polylobed plae bluish green medallion with four white flowers.
Exterior has a register of blue flowers around the flaring part.

The deep pottery dish has a flat foliated rim and is decorated in underglaze cobalt-blue, bright turquoise, green, relief opaque red and black for the outlines. The centre of the dish shows a symmetrical design of two curving red dotted tulips and two smaller red flowers on stalks clasped together with a pointed, scalloped medallion between them. Small roses and other flowers springing from a leafy tuft fill the area underneath. The shape of the dish, with a foliated rim, and the stylised pattern of waves breaking on rocks on the rim are of Chinese origin. The latter developed into a popular Iznik design with a tendency to stylisation during the AH 10th / AD 16th century. The rocks and waves, originally painted in different colours, are both blue on this dish, a characteristic feature of later Iznik ware. The pointed, scalloped medallion developed in the courtly ateliers, used to decorate textiles or tiles, occurred on pottery from the AH 980s / AD 1580s. Vessels from the second half of the AH 10th / AD 16th century are mostly not imperial commissions, even if they show designs of the courtly ateliers. The potters, producing for the local market, created their own compositions by combining single elements of various styles and sources. On the back the dish is painted with four blue coloured tulips alternating with four rosettes on a white background. The transparent glaze on the back is slightly yellow coloured.

Source: [https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;8;en&cp]

How date and origin were established:
The scalloped medallion as an element of decoration occurred on pottery from the 980s / 1580s.

How Object was obtained:
Purchased with government funds from the collection of F. R. Martin.

How provenance was established:
The floral decoration and the shape are both specific to Iznik ceramics.

Source: [https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;8;en&cp]