LONDON.- A fine and rare Iznik pottery tile is one of the highlights of Bonhams Islamic and Indian sale in London on 18 October. Estimated at £25,000-35,000 it is part of an impressive selection of antique tiles from Iznik, Kashan and other major pottery centres in the Islamic World.

The tile dates from 1580, the height of Iznik pottery’s golden age. The tile is unusual in the application of the chrome black outlines used to emphasise the form of the decorative elements. The softer black outlines were made, as usual, before the glaze was applied to the tile, but the darker outlines seem to have been painted on top of the glaze before it was fired.

Bonhams Head of Islamic and Indian Art, Oliver White, said, “This is a very intriguing tile. I’ve never seen one like it. The maker may have been aiming for a novel effect or perhaps he simply got distracted and forgot to complete the outlining before applying the glaze and then rectified his oversight afterwards. Either way, the effect is very striking.”

The sale also features two other Iznik tiles from the closing decades of the 16th century. One from 1560 is estimated at £12,000-15,000; the other, from 1570, at £8,000-12,000. A fine iznik rimless pottery dish from the same period is estimated at £15,000-20,000.

Iznik pottery
Iznik pottery was produced in the western Anatolian town of Iznik, in modern day Turkey, from the closing decades of the 15th century until the end of the 17th. Iznik was already an established centre for the production of simple, domestic, earthenware pottery when craftsmen, responding to demand from the Ottoman Court, began to make high quality stonepaste objects. These were initially decorated with traditional arabesque patterns combined with design elements taken from Chinese blue and white porcelain.

Throughout the 16th century Iznik pottery flourished, reaching its artistic peak between 1560 and 1600. Designs became more fluid and less symmetrical; the colour palette gradually changed, incorporating pastel shades of turquoise, sage green and pale purple. By the end of the century, bolder colours had been introduced, with strong red and bright emerald green becoming standard. A series of catastrophic fires, combined with an economic slump across the Ottoman Empire, badly affected production and demand at the beginning of the 17th century. By the time the economy recovered, Iznik’s main rival, Kütahya, had forged ahead. Pottery continued to be made at Iznik, but the standard of workmanship was poor and the designs poorer. By 1800, production had ceased entirely.