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.

View Short Description

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-Khamis
Copyedited by: Mandi Gomez


MWNF Working Number: UK3 28