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

Name of Object:

Tympanum

Location:

Vienna, Austria

Holding Museum:

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

About MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna

Date of Object:

About 1572

Museum Inventory Number:

Ke 3381

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Quartz frit ceramic, decoration: underglaze painting in blue and so-called tomato red

Dimensions:

Height: 67cm, Width: 142cm; Sixteen-piece

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Turkey, Iznik

Description:

The tympanum consists of 16 assembled tiles and comes from the palace of the grand vizier Piale Pasha (c.1515– 1578) or the mosque he founded. Both were finished in 1573 and were decorated lavishly with tile fields. A lucky knot motif of cloud bands in so-called “tomato red” dominates in front of spirals. Palace and mosque were “renovated” after the earthquake of 1890, and tile tympana sold world-wide through dealers. At least nine identical tympana are now kept in European and American museums.

How Object was obtained:

Purchase

Link to catalogue/digitisation in Holding Institution’s database:

https://sammlung.mak.at/sammlung_online?id=collect-46020

Selected bibliography:

Noever, Peter (ed), Global:Lab: Kunst als Botschaft. Asien und Europa 1500-1700, Exh. cat. Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2009.

Citation of this web page:

Mio Wakita-Elis "Tympanum" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;at;Mus21;13;en

Prepared by: Mio Wakita-Elis

MWNF Working Number: AT1 13