This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in:English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Tile

Location:

Los Angeles, United States of America

Holding Museum:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

 About Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles

Date of Object:

Hegira c. 987–999 / AD c. 1580–90

Museum Inventory Number:

M.2000.31

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Fritware, underglaze-painted

Dimensions:

28.6 x 30.5 x 1.6cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Turkey, Iznik

Description:

Toward the mid-10th / mid-16th century the colour scheme of Iznik wares expanded to include a brilliant red and a bright grass green, along with a blue deep. The magnificent tile with sumptuous flowers and lower border painted to imitate breccia marble probably comes from the royal living quarters at the Topkapı Sarayı Palace, Istanbul, from the time of Murad III (Hegira 982-1003 / AD 1574-95). This sultan’s expansion of his living quarters, from Hegira 986-996 / AD 1578-1588, included a bedroom pavilion decorated with Iznik tiles embellished with blossoming trees, flowers, and illusionistically painted imitation breccia marble, very similar to the LACMA tile. Objects of this type, both tile revetment and vessels, demonstrate the great variety of ornament used by Iznik potters; they also help to illustrate the different stylistic phases of Iznik wares, which in turn reflect the evolution of Ottoman taste in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a variety of media.

How date and origin were established:

The tile is similar to others in Murad III’s bedroom pavilion at Topkapi Saryi, Istanbul, completed in Hegira 996 / AD 1588.

How Object was obtained:

Possibly Topkapi Saryi Palace (commissioned under the reign of Murad III), Istanbul, until 17th century. Possibly removed, seventeenth century. Private collection, France, until 1995. Irene Momtaz Islamic Art, London, until 2000 (sold to); LACMA, purchased with funds provided by Phil Berg.

How provenance was established:

The tile represents the classical type of Iznik ceramics, in which the palette is comprised of red, blue green and white.

Selected bibliography:

Hess, Catherine, The Arts of Fire: Islamic Influences on Glass and Ceramics of the Italian Renaissance, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2004: 156.
Komaroff, Linda, Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rev. ed., Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005: 47, fig. 43.
Komaroff, Linda, Lo Terrenal y lo divino: Arte islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles, Santiago, Chile: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015: 131, 169, 212.
Komaroff, Linda, Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016: 192-193.

Citation of this web page:

LACMA Staff "Tile" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus21;9;en

Prepared by: LACMA Staff


MWNF Working Number: US1 09