Page 251 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

politan Museum of Art (172) shows the adaptation of this
theme to a high-footed plate. Its foliated rim bears a wave
pattern. The deep cavetto is decorated with lotus panels ter-
minating with trefoil arches, each enclosing a small trefoil;
additional trefoils appear in interstices between the arches.
The center shows a spray with a large lotus, flanked by sym-
metrically arranged stylized blossoms with leaves, growing
from a horizontal strip. The exterior of the cavetto has a se-
ries of abutted lotus panels, alternately filled with bold verti-
cal strokes or a row of three trefoils. On the high foot are
separated lotus panels like those inside the cavetto.
The execution of the blossoms, which display delicate
brushwork and employ shading and voiding to define the de-
tails, contrasts with the stylized designs used in the cavetto
and rim. The painter appears to have been exercising artistic
freedom in the representation of the floral spray, while rely-
ing on established formulas for the remaining areas. The
same motifs are used in the cavetto and rim of another plate
77
that shows a variation in the flowers. The lotus bouquet
framed by arched panels was also rendered in the four-color
ware with red. 78
The third Chinese theme reproduced by iznik potters was
172. Plate with floral bouquet, second quarter sixteenth century (New York, three bunches of grapes amid scrolling vines and leaves,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.33)
which became popular after the second quarter of the six-
teenth century. Several plates with this design were made in
blue and white, although the majority incorporated blue and
turquoise.

scroll with six hatayis, feathery leaves, and hooked buds re-
volving around a peony in a counterclockwise movement. Blue-and-Turquoise Ware
The exterior of the cavetto has six rounded blossoms alternat-
ing with the same number of hooked trefoils. Blue lines The second type of iznik ware shows that not only was the
around the rim are lobed, although the rim itself is plain. The palette expanded to include a greenish-turquoise, but the
motifs are shaded with reserved details, producing a painterly themes represented by the potters became extremely diversi-
effect. Black is used only to define the spiral roundels of the fied, ranging from spiral scrolls, saz motifs, and naturalistic
wave pattern on the rim. flowers to figurai compositions. The execution is painterly
The style of blossoms and hooked buds evokes a distant re- and the designs are freely drawn, revealing an uninhibited
semblance to Chinese peonies and spiked and lobed leaves, experimentation with themes and compositions. Some exam-
which may have stimulated the development of these fea- ples continued Chinese porcelain designs, while others show
69
tures. The same motifs appear in different configurations on vestiges of motifs used in the blue-and-white ware. Most of
a number of other blue-and-white plates, 70 a pair of large jars the pieces are single examples that attempted to re-create on
decorated with peony scrolls or hatayis enclosed by four pottery the extraordinarily rich artistic vocabulary of the age.
leaves that create lozenges, 71 as well as on a rare ewer with The diversity of decorative themes employed in objects be-
an overlapping ogival pattern composed of leaves, 72 two small longing to this type makes it difficult to determine stylistic
73
jars, and a unique candlestick inscribed with the name of its groupings and chronological development. The second color,
74
owner, Haci Mehmed b. Süleyman. There are also blue and introduced in the 1520s, continued to be used with the blue
turquoise-green examples, such as a tankard; 75 and poly- beyond the turn of the next century and was periodically re-
76
chrome lamps and plates, in which the blossoms have be- vived in the ensuing years.
come animated, containing heads of lions or sprouting stems The popular theme of three bunches of grapes was fre-
terminating with birds. quently rendered in blue and turquoise, with the latter color
The Chinese-derived theme of a lotus bouquet was not as used in the leaves and certain motifs, as represented on a
widespread as the floral scroll and was produced in a limited large plate in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (173). The fo-
number of pieces. The blue-and-white example in the Metro- liated rim reveals a different interpretation of the wave pat-

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