Large Dish with Artichokes (c. 1535–40): Art, History and Details

Large Dish with Artichokes (c. 1535–40) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Ceramic vessels and tiles produced in Iznik, Turkey, for the Ottoman court in Istanbul represented the finest Islamic ceramics. Floral and vegetal motifs are a hallmark of Iznik pottery. The center of this dish is covered in a dynamic artichoke motif interwoven with rosettes and serrated saz leaves. The artichoke design was likely inspired by luxury Italian textiles imported into the Ottoman court. The dish represents a high point of Ottoman art during the reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1520–66) in which European, Persian, Chinese, and Egyptian influences contributed to a distinct artistic language.

Object facts

• Title: Large Dish with Artichokes
• Date: c. 1535–40
• Culture: Turkey, Iznik, Ottoman period (1299–1922)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: fritware with underglaze-painted design
• Dimensions: Diameter: 36.4 cm (14 5/16 in.); Overall: 6.9 cm (2 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1995.17

A detail from the museum

The artichoke is actually the bud of a thistle—a flower.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• McWilliams, Mary, “Ambitious Decoration” Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 03, March 1996
• Mackie, Louise W., "Luxury and Hierarchy", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 01, January 2002
• Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.