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Country of Origin: Ottoman
Empire
JBOC Comments:
Auction Catalogue Description:
Sale Title ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND
INDIAN WORLDS
Location London, King Street Sale Date Apr 04,
2006
Lot Number 100 Sale Number 7218
Creator OTTOMAN SYRIA, CIRCA 1574
Lot Title A DAMASCUS POTTERY TILE MIHRAB
Estimate 50,000 - 70,000 British pounds
Special Notice VAT rate of 5% is payable on
hammer price plus buyer's premium.
Lot Description A DAMASCUS POTTERY TILE MIHRAB
OTTOMAN SYRIA, CIRCA 1574
Comprising eighteen tiles and part tiles,
together forming a design against a white ground
with two large flaming candles in candlesticks
below two blue footprints below a pendant
cobalt-blue mosque lamp with reserved white naskh
profession of faith, flanked by elaborately
marbled green columns containing numerous hidden
fish, animals and birds, an alternating green and
white marbled arch above, the cobalt-blue
spandrels with reserved tulip and carnation
sprays, plain turquoise outer stripe, five tiles
with repaired breaks, a few corners restored,
mounted together in brass frame
overall 48˝ x 24˝in. (123 x 62cm.)
Lot Notes In 1554 Sultan Sulayman ordered the
construction of a large mosque and madrasa
complex to be built in Damascus. As part of the
construction a considerable number of tile-makers
appear to have been sent to work on the interior.
While their early designs are clearly very
closely related to some of those created at
Iznik, the colour scheme shows clear differences.
To a blue and turquoise colour that are common to
both, they add a manganese and an apple-green.
Having finished the Sulaymaniye, the potters
appear to have settled in Damascus, working on a
series of buildings, and producing a small but
distinct group of pottery vessels (see lot 99 for
a very good example).
Today the most varied of the tiles remaining in
Damascus are probably those to be found in the
Darwish Pasha mosque, which was founded in 1574
(as given in the inscription above the door). Two
of the strongest images of all Damnascus tile
panels are provided by the two arched panels
found in the portico areas of that mosque, each
of which has marbled pillars and alternating
coloured marble arch enclosing a white panel.
(Gérard Degeorge and Yves Porter, The Art of the
Islamic Tile, Paris, 2001, ill.p.214; idem,
Ornament and Decoration in Islamic Architecture,
London and New York, 2000;
http://archnet.org/library/images/thumbnails.tcl?collection_id=&locatio
n_id=7463&place_id=&start=37&limit=9
images IMG08002-08008 and ISY0362). In the white
panel of each are a mosque lamp, two blue
footprints, and the same nasta'liq quatrain. The
present niche is very similar indeed to those
two. Even a number of finer details of the
drawing, such as the very successful capitals at
the tops of the pillars are identical, as is the
lettering of the shahada. In the colouring, while
the green on ours is not as strong as those in
Damascus, all three use a very subtle soft shade
of manganese which is very effective when used as
shading, particularly in the capitals of all
three panels.
There are however a number of small but
significant differences, which indicate that
while this was undoubtedly made at the same time
and in the same workshop, it was not for the same
commission. The stonework here is slightly
simplified; the joggling is not as complicated,
and the pillars do not taper as those in the
Darwish Pasha mosque. Most notable however is the
treatment of the marbling. A close examination of
the pillars here shows them to be crammed full of
fish, animals and birds. This is rare indeed to
find in a mosque, or indeed any religious
setting. It shows a great sense of humour on the
part of the painter. And it provides a very good
link to the small group of Iznik vessels that are
likewise covered in similar animals.
For further examples of Ottoman Damascus tiles
please see lots 6 and 101A.
Seen on www.Christies.com
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