Encountering the Middle East

Catalogue Entry: Iznik Dish

Iznik Plate 1

Iznik Plate 4

Iznik Plate 3

Iznik Plate 5

Iznik Plate 2

This Iznik plate (Iznik Plate 1) is made of white stone-paste, and it measures about six centimeters in height and about thirty centimeters in diameter. Stone-paste ceramics are made by adding ground glass to clay with the effect of reducing the fusion temperature. The methods of producing Iznik ceramics were a heavily protected secret of the Ottoman Empire, which led to a purposeful lack of documentation of the production process. This secrecy was meant to prevent competing empires from producing similar ceramics, but it was so thorough that their methods of production were never spread to the outside world and genuine Iznik ceramic is impossible to accurately reproduce in the modern day. The floral and vegetal designs of this plate are situated in a symmetrical pattern, with a green stalk splitting the face of the plate in to two identically arranged sections. The plate’s vibrant colors have been protected from the corrosive agents in the air and dust for centuries by a layer of clear glaze over the painted surface of the pottery, and these glazes progressively became better during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as the Ottomans actively improved their technologies.[i]

The main methods used for the estimation of when Iznik ceramics were produced are the colors present and the artistic style of the individual piece, since these were traits that evolved slowly over time. Iznik ceramics initially took heavy influence from the white and blue porcelain produced by the Chinese during this period, so the Ottomans created their own version that was white and blue with similar artistic styles. The design on Iznik Plate 4 is blue and white with vegetal designs in radial symmetry along the edges, and grapes in the center of the design, taking large inspiration from Chinese porcelain. During the sixteenth century, the potters at Iznik added turquoise, then green, then purple, then red to their ceramics along with the blue and white that they had started off with.[ii] This plate is estimated to have been produced at Iznik between 1570 and 1575 based on the quantity and vibrancy of colors present in the plate’s design. The design on this plate can be contrasted with the design on Iznik Plate 3, which is estimated to have been produced around thirty years before this plate. The painting on Plate 3 strictly makes use of blue paint on the white stone-paste, and the design itself is highly geometrically inspired, with only the design around the edges containing some vegetal elements.

All Iznik ceramics were produced in the legendary kilns of Iznik, Turkey during the reign of the Ottoman empire, with the majority produced from the late fifteenth century to the seventeenth century. The Iznik kilns produced various types of plates and dining pieces, as well as massive quantities of decorative tiles used in construction projects throughout the Ottoman empire, such as the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.[iii] The dining pieces produced during the height of production were prized pieces of Ottoman culture that spread from the middle east to the Western nations of Europe, where they spent many decades or possibly even centuries in private collections and museums. While people certainly used Iznik dining pieces for serving and eating meals for decades, the best-preserved pieces are those that spent a larger portion of their lives on display shelves. The charger plate shown in Iznik Plate 5 would have served as the backdrop to many meals in its lifespan, and it has visible marks of wear to evidence its regular usage.

While Iznik potters were highly protective of their production techniques, making it impossible to truly understand their process, scholars and scientists have reconstructed the most likely steps and methods they used to produce their incredible ceramics.[iv] This Iznik plate was produced by first crafting the plate itself out of stone-paste material, giving the plate its characteristic shape and white color. Skilled artists then traced their designs from paper stencils onto the surface of the plate, before they used delicate brushes and high-quality paints to apply the vivid colors that Iznik plates are renowned for. The individualized nature of this process meant that each plate produced was unique, while maintaining certain elements of uniformity in the colors and shapes used in the various designs. The green stalk dividing the symmetrical sides of Iznik Plate 2 is identical to the stalk used for the same purpose in the design of Plate 1, but the rest of Plate 2 employs far more green vegetal designs and less blue color.

When this Iznik plate was produced, its purpose would almost certainly have been to serve as a regular dining piece in a royal court or wealthy dining hall. However, within a century after the production of this plate, the kilns at Iznik would begin producing dining pieces of lower quality and more varied artistic design to cater to patrons who commissioned personalized pieces.[v] Generic dining pieces with floral and vegetal designs were produced to be used practically for dining in wealthy homes, but these ceramics found a second life after their days of dining had ended. When collectors across Europe and Asia placed these dining pieces on display in collections in appreciation of their artistic beauty, it saved the ceramics from wasting away like many other ancient, simpler dining pieces did.

This Iznik plate was certainly produced by a master potter and skilled painter who worked at the kilns of Iznik around the late sixteenth century, but the profound secrecy shrouding these craftsmen prevents scholars from identifying individual artists. The funds to acquire the high-quality stone-paste and vibrant paints were provided by the Ottoman royal court, but this had been occurring for generations by this point so the emperor may not have had much involvement in the direction of their production, if he had any. By using modern scientific techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and atomic emission spectrometry, scientists can document the molecular differences between various ceramics.[vi] The ceramics produced in the kilns of Iznik are chemically distinct from those produced in similar ways around the same time, showing how the Iznik potters were on the cutting edge of stone-paste production technology.

This plate is directly related to the group topic of dining since its original intended use was for food to be eaten from it by wealthy Ottomans. While it is too rare and expensive to be regularly used for serving meals today, the high quality and practical craftsmanship of the plates produced at Iznik make them durable enough to withstand centuries of continuous use. These beautiful dining pieces improved the visual appeal of every meal served on them and people from surrounding empires would have been very impressed by their beauty and sturdiness. Within any wealthy Ottoman home, Iznik plates would commonly be considered prized possessions of cultural importance that families would proudly use whenever important guests visited their homes for a meal.

The Iznik plate relates to the exhibit theme of community since Iznik dining pieces represented the outstanding quality of craftsmanship and artistry within the Ottoman community. While they were mainly utilized by wealthy families, any Ottoman family would have been honored to possess such a fine and practical example of their country’s skill and beauty. Iznik artistry was bankrolled by the Ottoman court, but the larger community were the ones who benefited from the employment and beauty these ceramic productions provided. Talented artists and potters from around the empire would have been encouraged to test their mettle at the cutting-edge workshops in Iznik, providing them opportunities to work and to improve their craft. The Ottoman community treasured the ceramic works of art that were produced in Iznik since their community produced them and they represented some of the best of the community.

While Iznik ceramics initially took heavy influence from Chinese blue and white porcelain and were eventually outcompeted internationally by the heavy importation of Chinese porcelain, they are chemically, culturally, and artistically distinct. Iznik ceramic cannot be dismissed as poor imitation of the more popular Chinese porcelain since the craftsmen in Iznik developed the method of stone-paste ceramics to make them just as beautiful and practical as any porcelain produced in China.

Bibliography

Adiguzel Toprak, Filiz, and Ezgi Gokce. “Interaction of Artistic Production in Early XVIIth Century Ottoman Costume Albums and Iznik Ceramics.” Journal of Graduate School of Social Sciences 18, no. 1 (2014): 89-104. Link to PDF

Gokce, Ezgi, and Can Gokce. “The Features of the Composition Seen on Ceramic Dishes of Iznik and Underglaze Decorations.” Idil Journal of Art and Language 6, no. 29 (2017): 367-384. https://www.idildergisi.com/makale/pdf/1483522221.pdf

Gokce, Ezgi. “Iznik Ceramics: History and Present Day.” Athens Journal of Humanities and Arts 5, no. 2 (2018): 225-242. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajha.5.2.5

Kirmizi, Burcu. “An Archaeometric Application to a Group of Early Ottoman Ceramics from Iznik.” MA Thesis, Middle East Technical University, 2004. Link to PDF

Paynter, S. et al. “The Production Technology of Iznik Pottery – a Reassessment.” Archaeometry 46, no. 3 (2004): 421-437. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2004.00166.x

Simsek, Gulsu., and A. Emel Geckinli. “An Assessment Study of Tiles from Topkapi Palace Museum with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray and Raman Spectrometers.” Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 43, no. 7 (2011): 917-927. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrs.3108