Name of Object:

Tile panel

Location:

London, England, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Victoria and Albert Museum

About Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Date of Object:

Late hegira 10th/AD 16th century

Museum Inventory Number:

428–1900

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Painted and glazed ceramic.

Dimensions:

Height 62 cm, width 102 cm, depth 3 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Iznik, Turkey.

Description:

A panel of six wall-tiles, decorated with underglaze painting in the full colour range of the mature Iznik style. Wide green strips with meandering flowering vines form the side borders as well as a pointed-arch motif. The spandrels of the arch are filled with red and white arabesques on a dark-blue background, while the space beneath contains a masterful composition in which naturalistic flowers and large-scale arabesque motifs fill the brilliant white space without overcrowding it. The composition is abruptly cut off at the bottom, indicating that these six tiles formed the upper part of a larger tilework ensemble.

A panel of six tiles, executed in the colour palette of the high Iznik style. The decoration features floral decoration beneath a pointed arch. This panel was the top section of a larger panel depicting a niche. It may have adorned an Ottoman palace.

How date and origin were established:

Stylistic comparison: the use of green indicates that the tiles must date after the 1570s; while the high quality means they cannot be much later than the turn of the 17th century.

How Object was obtained:

Purchased by the Museum in 1900.

How provenance was established:

Iznik was the centre of quality ceramic production in this period.

Selected bibliography:

Lane, A., A Guide to the Collection of Tiles, London, 1960, p.21.

Citation of this web page:

Barry Wood "Tile panel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus02;31;en

Prepared by: Barry WoodBarry Wood

Barry Wood is Curator (Islamic Gallery Project) in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He studied history of art at Johns Hopkins University and history of Islamic art and architecture at Harvard University, from where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2002. He has taught at Harvard, Eastern Mediterranean University, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has also worked at the Harvard University Art Museums and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. He has published on topics ranging from Persian manuscripts to the history of exhibitions.
Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: UK2 36