• Turkey, Iznik, c. 1545
  • Fritware, underglaze painted
  • Inv. Inv. 1641

Tile panel

The main motif of this panel consists of branches of the prunus painted on a cobalt blue ground, creating a vertical two-tile pattern that can be repeated indefinitely lengthways. The base of each branch of the prunus divides into several smaller branches, and two tulips and a sprig of hyacinths also appear, in addition to the traditional carnations and roses from naturalist floral compositions in Ottoman ceramics.

The cobalt blue ground and the dominance of white, pale blues and dark greens in this twelve-tile panel, the largest known with this decoration, suggest a garden bathed in moonlight.

Unknown.

H. 60 cm; W. 159 cm

Goffen 1995

Rona Goffen (ed.), Museums Discovered. The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Woodbine Books, 1995, pp. 186–7.

Lisbon 2001

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. Lisbon: Calouste GulbenkianMuseum, 2001, p. 48, cat. 31.

Updated on 22 april 2022

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