A tile decorated with repeating flora patterns in several shades of blue.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A hexagonal tile with slightly uneven edges. The tile is decorated in light and dark blue on white. The design is symmetrical and consistent patterns of flowers and leaves which curve and bend over each other as they radiate out from a central flower, creating an impression of a multipointed star made of natural forms.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.19
Title
Hexagonal tile with interlacing split-palmette and floral pattern
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Hexagonal tile with a stencilled radial pattern of stylized lotuses and palmettes around a central rosette
Classification
Architectural Elements
Work Type
architectural element
Date
c. 1530
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey), Iznik
Period
Ottoman period
Culture
Ottoman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216651

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Fritware
Technique
Underglazed, painted
Dimensions
27 x 24 cm (10 5/8 x 9 7/16 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.19
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This hexagonal tile, 9 1/4 inches across, shows a highly developed leaf and tendril decoration on a white slip. The colors, turquoise and dark blue, are characteristic of the early products of the Iznik factories. From its similarity in style to the Iznik tiles in the Yeni Kaplica Baths in Bursa, it can be dated around the second decade of the sixteenth century. Alternate points of the geometric center ornament, which was probably drawn with the aid of a stencil, contain a small crescent-like ornament similar to that in yellow on the Bursa tile. The pattern of the tile is contained within a border, but the border itself was meant to be continuous with those of similar tiles. The surface of the tile is flat, and the ceramic itself is white silicaceous clay. --entered by sb02/04/03

Publication History

  • Jessica Chloros, "An Investigation of Cobalt Pigment on Islamic Ceramics at the Harvard Art Museums" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2008), Unpublished, pp. 1-41 passim

Exhibition History

  • A Grand Legacy: Arts of the Ottoman Empire, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/09/1999 - 01/02/2000
  • The Enlightened Eye: Gifts from John Goelet, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/12/2000 - 05/07/2000

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu