Iznik Dish

A shallow Iznik dish (sahan) with flat well and flanged rim, a form which emerged in ca. 1570.1 On a ground of white slip, red carnations with snapped stems bloom from a tuft of grass at the bottom of the dish. Above that, two large blue saz leaves curve around. Floating above this, are spray of red prunus blossoms in a pot. The rim is decorated with a cobalt blue strip and overlapping white prunus blossoms. 

A dish of similar form (diameter 34.6 cm) with comparable large saz leaves is in the Musée Ariana, Geneva (no. AR 12192), dated to ca. 1575. Another shallow dish, measuring 32 cm in diameter, is in the Musée de la Renaissance at Château Écouen (no. E.Cl.8390). It is dated to ca. 1590. It also has two large blue saz leaves at the centre, flanked by carnations with broken stems. 

[1] Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. 2nd edn. London: Alexandria Press, 1989, p. 38.