Iznik Dish

An Iznik dish decorated underglaze with cobalt blue, pale blue, relief red, and green with black outlines on a white slip ground. The central medallion is decorated with 6 boats, their sails left white in reserve against the pale blue ground. The boats are surrounded by rocky outcrops in bole red and çintemani spots which emulate whirlpools in the water. This is contained within a ring of green and red leaves. The reverse is undecorated but for five cobalt blue crescents and five rosettes. 

A near-identical dish dated to ca. 1580–90 and measuring 28.6 cm diameter is in the Ömer Koç collection.[1] Another similar example, but with a border of feathered leaves on the rim rather than the rock and wave pattern, is in the Benaki Museum, Athens (no. 18).[2] It is dated to ca. 1575. 

[1] See Bılgı, Hülya. The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection. Istanbul: 2015, p. 490, cat. 232. 
[2] See Carswell, John, and Moraitou, Mina. Iznik Ceramics at the Benaki Museum. Athens / London: Benaki Museum and Gingko, 2023, p. 126, cat. 70.