Skip to Content
Today Open today 11–8

Serving Dish (Tabaq) with Vegetal and Fish-Scale Patterns

A work made of iznik ware, fritware with underglaze painting in blue, turquoise, red, and black on white slip.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of iznik ware, fritware with underglaze painting in blue, turquoise, red, and black on white slip.

Date:

Ottoman dynasty (1299–1923), 16th century

Artist:

Turkey
Iznik

About this artwork

The central design of this dish features two opposing leaves surrounding a central three-lobed (trefoil) shape, all set against a fish-scale motif in turquoise and blue. The design of the leaves is in the so-called saz (reed) style, referring to the reed pen used by Persian and Turkish artists to create black-ink drawings. Early drawings in this style depict dragons and phoenixes in combat surrounded by blossoms and feather-like leaves. The rim of the vessel contains a classic “wave and rock” pattern, inspired by Chinese ceramics. At the beginning of Iznik pottery production, Chinese porcelain exerted a large influence on the style and colors of Iznik tiles. However, by the late 16th century, when this dish was created, Iznik potters had developed their own distinctive style of colorful floral and abstract motifs that went beyond their original Chinese influence.

Status

On View, Gallery 143

Department

Arts of Asia

Culture

Islamic

Title

Serving Dish (Tabaq) with Vegetal and Fish-Scale Patterns

Place

Turkey (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1550–1599

Medium

Iznik ware, fritware with underglaze painting in blue, turquoise, red, and black on white slip

Dimensions

6 × 30.7 cm (2 3/8 × 12 1/16 in.); Diam.: 30.7 cm (12 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Martin A. Ryerson

Reference Number

1930.993

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/6762/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share