Tile with Floral Design (Ottoman dynasty (1299–1923), 16th/17th century): Artwork and History

Tile with Floral Design (Ottoman dynasty (1299–1923), 16th/17th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Syria.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This tile belongs to group of ceramics sometimes referred to as Damascus or Syrian ware that are closely related to Iznik ceramics. These wares were produced in Damascus in the mid-16th century when the Ottoman sultan, Suleyman the Magnificent, sent Iznik potters to repair and restore tilework at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. After refurbishing the tilework, these artisans settled in Damascus, where they continued to produce tiles and vessels. While similar in style to the tiles produced in Iznik, tiles made in Syria in the Ottoman period employ a different color palette to depict vegetal and geometric forms. Syrian ceramics did not use the crisp white ground and only rarely used the vibrant tomato red typical of Iznik ceramics. Instead, Syrian tilework tended toward a more muted color palette of natural greens and blues.

Object facts

• Title: Tile with Floral Design
• Date: Ottoman dynasty (1299–1923), 16th/17th century
• Artist attribution: Syria
• Place of origin: Damascus
• Medium: Fritware with polychrome painting under transparent glaze
• Dimensions: 27.3 × 27 × 2.3 cm (10 3/4 × 10 11/16 × 7/8 in.)
• Type: Architectural fragment
• Department: Arts of Asia
• Reference number: 1925.529

Collection credit

Logan-Patten-Ryerson Collection

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.