Page 244 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

163 (above). Plate with central hexagon, second quarter sixteenth century
(Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayí Müzesi, 15/6086)

164 (right). Jug with slip-painted decoration, second quarter sixteenth
century (Kuwait National Museum, LNS 174 C)

52
Chinese porcelains were reproduced in a most liberal manner which were later restored with metal fittings. Metalwork
by abstracting certain themes and fusing them with nakka§- shapes can also be found in large bowls, mosque lamps,
hane elements, thus creating individual compositions. candlesticks, 53 spherical ornaments, pen boxes, and even
The first group consists of large bowls, mosque lamps, plates. The plates have everted flattened rims that are rarely
candlesticks, jars, ewers, and plates with a few pen boxes, foliated. The composition is generally concentric panels, re-
spherical ornaments, and pilgrim flasks. Compositions are calling both fifteenth-century metal examples and Chinese
generally compartmentalized, with white and blue grounds porcelains, which were themselves based on Islamic metal
used in alternating units. The designs are tightly drawn, con- shapes, further complicating the sources of iznik pieces.
cise, and frequently cut off by a frame, suggesting that a frag- Among the more rarely produced shapes are small bowls, 54
ment of a larger composition was employed. The decorative jars, pilgrim flasks, and tankards, 55 which seem to have sur-
repertoire relies on superimposed scrolls bearing rumis, cloud vived as single examples.
bands, hatayis, peonies, and inscription panels, separated by This early blue-and-white group contains an unusually
bands with braids, scrolls, and chevrons, creating highly elab- large number of pieces decorated with kufi or sülüs inscrip-
orate but rigidly structured compositions. tions. Because items made for religious monuments, such as
The motifs are frequently defined by darker lines, detailed mosque lamps and spherical ornaments, were traditionally in-
with light and dark strokes, and shaded, producing a vibrant scribed with Koranic verses and prayers, their incorporation
three-dimensional effect. In a number of examples dots were into the decorative repertoire of ceramic examples is under-
used in the background, reproducing the ring matting in standable. Inscriptions on pen boxes, plates, and jugs pro-
metalwork. Metalwork shapes are particularly noticeable in duced for secular use are not as easily explained, unless the
several articulated and angular ewers and jugs, some of models used were inscribed metal pieces. Another explana-

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