Name of Object:

Footed dish or tazze

Location:

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

National Museums of Scotland (NMS)

About National Museums of Scotland (NMS), Edinburgh

Date of Object:

Hegira late 10th century / AD late 16th century

Museum Inventory Number:

A. 1910.22

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Stone-paste (fritware), green, blue, red and black underglaze, over which a clear glaze.

Dimensions:

Diameter 46.4 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Iznik, Turkey.

Description:

A magnificent circular stone-paste (fritware) dish of the tondino form that is characterised by a very shallow wide well and a broad and flat horizontal rim. This shape is derived from early 16th-century, Italian maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware) dishes a style that was imitated by the Ottoman ceramicists. The plate rests on a wide and very low, circular foot-ring. Both the inside and the underside of the dish are decorated extensively.
The well has a naturalistically drawn flower arrangement of carnations, tulips, prunus blossoms and stylised roses, rising from a tuft of green grass. The wide rim displays a fluid band of alternating roses and serrated leaves flowing in an anti-clockwise direction. Small floral and vegetal motifs are set in between the main composition. The underside of the dish is enhanced by 14 flower heads with green centres that alternate with pairs of blue tulips. All the motifs are enhanced by black outlines.

This magnificent Iznik plate with its small, deep, concave well and a very wide, flat horizontal rim imitates the tondino, an Italian shape popular since the early AH 10th / AD 16th century. Its decoration assigns it to the second half of the 10th / 16th century, the peak of naturalism on Iznik wares.

How date and origin were established:

The decorative style adopted on this plate assigns this plate to the second half of the 10th / 16th century, when the naturalistic rendition of flower sprays reached its height on Iznik wares.

How Object was obtained:

Purchased from the Irvine Smith Collection in 1910.

How provenance was established:

This plate belongs to a group of Iznik dishes fashioned after the tondino, a shape popular in Italy from the early 16th century.

Selected bibliography:

Atasoy, N., and Raby, J., Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.227, figs. 397–9.

Citation of this web page:

Ulrike Al-Khamis "Footed dish or tazze" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus03;28;en

Prepared by: Ulrike Al-KhamisUlrike Al-Khamis

Ulrike Al-Khamis is Principal Curator for the Middle East and South Asia at the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh. She began her academic career in Germany before completing her BA (1st class Hons) in Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 1987. The same year she moved to Edinburgh, where she completed her Ph.D. thesis on “Early Islamic Bronze and Brass Ewers from the 7th to the 13th Century AD” in 1994. From 1994 to 1999 she worked as Curator of Muslim Art and Culture for Glasgow Museums and, in 1997, was one of the main instigators of the first ever Scottish Festival of Muslim Culture, SALAAM. Since 1999 she has been based at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, where she has curated several exhibitions and continues to publish aspects of the collections. In addition to her museum work she has contributed regularly to the teaching of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Edinburgh.
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: UK3 28