Page 269 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

193 (above). Pen box with saz scroll, third quarter sixteenth ccniury (Paris, 194 (right). Large jug with hatayis and leaves, third quarter sixteenth
Musée du Louvre, 4048) century (London, The British Museum, G. 1983.121)

lions, which must have been removed from a late-sixteenth- of this box are grooved, indicating that its lid was flat and
century building. 120 slid into place. Pen boxes with lids or sliding covers were
The potters soon mastered the red, which after the 1560s produced in more precious materials, such as jade, rock crys-
was used on virtually all the vessels and tiles produced in tal, and gold (see 59 and 62). These may have provided the
Iznik. The elaborate floral compositions employed on tiles models for the ceramic examples, which were also executed
were applied to diverse objects, including such rare pieces as in blue and white (see 168).
rectangular pen boxes, of which only two are known to have Many polychrome objects share designs used on brocaded
survived. One of them, in the Louvre, has lost its lid (193). silks and velvets, their common source being the nakka^hane.
The piece is decorated with red rumis that create cartouches Large hatayi blossoms flanked by saz leaves and floral sprays
in the center of the long sides and around the corners. The that join at the top and form ogival medallions, employed on
rumis are overlaid by scrolls bearing large polychrome ha- ceramic plates (see 189) and tiles and on textiles, appear on a
tayis, peonies, buds, and leaves that fill the cartouches and large jug in the British Museum (194). The neck of this ex-
the interstices. Although thin red lines encircle the upper and ample, which contains a braided band on its rim, has four
lower edges of the box, the design appears to have been hatayis enclosed by sprays of fruit blossoms and saz leaves.
taken from a larger composition, possibly a tile panel, The bands below are decorated with lobed rectangles bearing
wrapped around the sides and cut off at the top and bottom. rounded flowers and a row of bisected blossoms.
The recessed ledge at the rim suggests that the lid had straight Motifs on the neck were repeated on the body, with larger
sides and fitted snuggly over the opening. The interior is elements and extra leaves and blossoms to accommodate the
empty and undecorated. wider surface. An attempt was made to extend the composi-
A slightly larger example in the Victoria and Albert Mu- tion by cutting off the motifs at the lower edges of the neck
seum, similarly painted with rumis and hatayis, also lacks its and body as well as to join the ogival medallions by orienting
lid. It has a long open compartment and a small unit pierced their tips toward one another on either side of the neckband.
with two circular holes to hold cylindrical ink pots. The edges Thus the design creates a series of small and large ovals, em-

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