Lot 8
AN IZNIK POTTERY DISH DECORATED WITH A DEER
TURKEY, 17TH CENTURY
Auction: 10 December 2025 from 14:00 GMT
Description
of shallow form with sloping rim, decorated in red, blue, green and black outline on a white ground under a transparent glaze with a deer surrounded by carnations, the rim decorated with zigzags, verso with further floral designs
Dimensions
26cm diameter
Footnote
This is an enchanting dish with the deer lightly stepping into the decoration.
In Muslim Anatolia the depiction of animals is part of an old iconographic tradition which can be traced back to the figural art of the Seljuks in the 12th and 13th centuries. In Ottoman ceramics some of the earliest depictions of animals are found on Iznik ceramics in the 1520s and 1530s. Probably the most famous examples are the tiles decorated with animals on the façade of the Sünnet Odası (Circumcision Hall) tiles, in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.
For comparable Iznik dishes decorated with animals, see Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, Thames and Hudson, 1989, pp. 282-283, Figs. 651, 662, 665.
A similar Iznik dish in the Musée National de la Renaissance, Ecouen (inv. no. ECL 8362), is decorated with a deer. Please see, Frédéric Hitzel et al. Iznik – L’Aventure d’une Collection, Musee National de la Renaissance – Chateau d’Ecouen, 2005, p. 288.