islamic art-dish-underglaze painted-inv.n.15858-Ottoman c.1550/75-IMG_6120

the border of this brilliantly colored Iznik dish is a variation of a chinese wave pattern. In earlier Iznik vessels the pattern has a freer aspect more in keeping with its chinese origins but here it is subsumed to the symmetry that characterizes the internal decoration. this is a fanciful combination of realistic motifs, such as the red peonies and dark blue rosettes, with composite ones, such as the heart shaped outlines of the enveloping saz leaf, bordered on the outside by smaller red rosettes-dish-underglaze painted-inv.n.15858-Ottoman c.1550/75-IMG_6120