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:

Around hegira 981 / AD 1573-4

Museum Inventory Number:

1889–1897

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Painted and glazed ceramic.

Dimensions:

Width 149 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Iznik, Turkey.

Description:

Lunette-panel of 16 tiles. Said to have come from the mosque of the Ottoman Grand Admiral Piyale Pasha, the panel shows the Iznik potters at the height of their powers. A cloud-band of deep-red undulates through a field of blue flowers and green leaves, all carefully organised around spiralling arabesques. The dark-blue of the border is offset by the green and red of the alternating flowers and leaves. While the form of the panel is a common one, as lunettes were a standard feature of Ottoman architectural decoration, the quality of decoration makes this a particularly splendid example.

A panel of 16 tiles shaped to form a lunette-panel. This particular example is said to have come from a mosque founded by the Ottoman Grand Admiral Piyale Pasha. The quality of the tiles, particularly the use of red and green, shows the splendour of the Iznik pottery industry at its zenith.

How date and origin were established:

The panel was taken from above a window in the mosque of Piyale Pasha in Istanbul, built in 981 / 1573-4.

How Object was obtained:

Purchased by the Museum in 1897.

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, [at the Victoria and Albert Museum], 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;26;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 29