Magnificent Platinum Diamond Sapphire Necklace. Photo courtesy Euro Antique

Diamond Sapphire Platinum Bracelet. Photo courtesy Euro Antique

The weight of the sapphire is 118.55 carats and the weight of the diamond is 5.15 carats. 

Euro Antique. 36 West 47th St., Booth 46. New York N.Y. 10036. U.S.A. New York City, NY, 10036 - 646.360.2104

Le Musée d’Art et d’Histoire Baron Gérard rouvrira ses portes au grand public après 4 ans de rénovation le samedi 23 mars dès 18 heures.
Une nouvelle aventure culturelle et touristique pour les 11,7 millions de visiteurs annuels en Normandie.

Anciennement Musée Baron Gérard, le MAHB a été entièrement repensé en doublant sa surface initiale. Situé dans le coeur historique de Bayeux, attenant à la Cathédrale, le MAHB se déploie sur 1 500 m2 d’exposition, en prenant possession des parties les plus prestigieuses du palais épiscopal (XIe-XVIe siècle). Protégé au titre des monuments historiques, le palais est la pièce maîtresse du programme de valorisation du patrimoine de la Ville.

Un projet d’envergure

La rénovation du musée a été l’occasion de jeter un pont entre passé et présent. Alors que la nef de verre et d’acier pensée par l’architecte Jacques Millet sublime le palais épiscopal, la scénographie également repensée permet un dialogue entre les oeuvres et le bâtiment. L’ancienne muséographie n’abordait pas cette dimension alors que le lieu est lui-même un témoignage de l’histoire de la ville.

Une découverte étonnante

Dans le projet d’agrandissement, deux anciens commerces ont été acquis par la Ville pour constituer la nouvelle entrée. Les travaux réalisés dans l’un deux, une boulangerie, ont permis de découvrir l’ancienne chapelle gothique du palais, dont l’existence était inconnue à ce jour. Cette découverte est immédiatement intégrée au projet en raison de sa valeur patrimoniale. La structure de verre de la partie contemporaine est alors disposée en réponse à celle de l’ancienne chapelle, accentuant ainsi l’effet de vue pénétrante recherchée par l’architecte Jacques Millet dès son projet initial.

5 000 pièces de collection pour revivre 5 000 ans d’histoire

Grâce à la richesse de ses collections, dont certaines oeuvres sont signées Philippe de Champaigne et Gustave Caillebotte, le MAHB retrace l’histoire de Bayeux au travers des siècles. Le parcours est organisé de manière chronologique autour de 14 sections, de la Préhistoire à la Renaissance, et du XVIIe au XXe siècle mettant en avant 14 oeuvres majeures.
Au-delà de ces pièces maîtresses, 6 oeuvres « coups de coeur »* ont été choisies et seront particulièrement mises à l’honneur auprès du grand public pour favoriser une meilleure accessibilité et donner envie à tous de venir découvrir les chefs d’oeuvre du MAHB.

6 oeuvres « coups de coeur »

Amy Katherine Browning, Le châle rouge. Huile sur toile, vers 1912 © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Gustave Caillebotte, Portraits à la campagne. Huile sur toile, 1876 © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Henry Jules Jean Geoffroy, Enfant pauvre. Huile sur toile, 1883 © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Victor Gabriel Gilbert, La demoiselle. Huile sur toile, XIXe siècle © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Fernand Legout-Gerard, Concarneau. Huile sur toile, 1899 © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Aimard Pezant, Matinée d’hiver. Huile sur toile, XIXe siècle © Bayeux Museum®, coll. MAHB. Cliché Mathieu Ferrier

Victorian Silver Wedding Tiara. Photo courtesy Kimberly Klosterman Jewelry

Victorian Diamond, Emerald, Pearl, Silver & Gold Tiara. Photo courtesy Nadine Krakov Collection

Stunning tiara created in Europe in the 1910's. It is made of gold and silver and tastefully set with emeralds, diamonds and natural pearls. Emeralds are natural, no treatment, no color enhancement. 

Diamond Tiara-Necklace, England, circa 1880. Photo courtesy Berganza

A gold and silver convertible tiara/necklace composed of an articulated row of box collets set with cushion shaped old cut diamonds, each suspending a bar set with clusters of cushion shaped old cut diamonds in millegrain collet settings, seven with extended stylized foliate form pendants, all one hundred diamonds with an approximate total weight of 13.50 carats, in silver topped gold, with a cable chain for use as a necklace, with a silver frame for use as a tiara, and in a fitted leather necklace box. 

Berganza 88-90 Hatton Garden London, UK, EC1N 8PN - 02074300393

Diamond & Pearl Platinum Tiara. Circa 1915 and is possibly English in origin. Photo courtesy The Three Graces

A tiara is a type of head ornament worn as a mark of nobility or royalty on formal or state occasions. The diadem, similar to the tiara was worn by both men and women whereas the tiara was and remains the exclusive domain of women. Although in use since antiquity, there was an upsurge in the production of these très elegant headdresses at the turn of the 20th century. In fact, with the 1902 crowning of King Edward II and King George V in 1911 smaller tiaras, such as the one pictured were in vogue. That penultimate fashionista Queen Alexandra certainly abetted the trend by wearing such headpieces to garden parties and dinners. In addition, brides soon adopted the practice. 

Dazzling in person, this bandeau style tiara is made to be worn on the back of the head yet is of such a scale that it can be worn more on the forehead. Superior platinum work with superb mille grain detail provides the perfect setting for the wondrous combination of diamonds, natural pearls and onyx. 

Set in a Greek key pattern, four hundred and eighty (480) old European and single cut diamonds with a total estimated weight of 7.8 carats (color range H-K; VS1-SI1 clarity) embellish and create impeccable frames for seven (7) luscious natural pearls (untested but assumed natural due to age and examination) ranging in size from 3.35 mm to more than 8 mm in diameter. Rectangular cut onyx, ninety-five (95) gems in all provides contrasting visual interest against the whiteness of the diamonds and the pearls. To secure the tiara to the head, a length of ribbon or ribbon over elastic is engaged through the loops on the back of the silver head band. 

Please refer to “Tiaras” by Diana Scarisbrick for somewhat similar examples with the use of a Greek key pattern. The piece is accompanied by a blue velvet tiara box, possibly original with a cream silk interior embossed "Skinner Silversmith and Diamond Merchant, Orchard Street, London. W. in gold letters with the surmounted image of a crown.

Measurements: 5.2 inches (13.3 cm) at widest by 1-3/16 inches (3.1 cm) at the highest including silver headband and 15/16 of an inch (2.4 cm) without. The sides are 5/8 of an inch (1.5 cm) in height including headband and 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) without. Weight of 40.9 grams (26.3 dwt). 

Note: Diamonds have not been removed from their mounts to preserve the integrity of the setting. All diamond weights have been approximated by measurement and formula and may vary from actual weights. Grading has been done in situ and also may vary if stones are removed.

Le Boxeur du Quirinal (fin du IVe siècle ou début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C., Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome). Photo akg-images/Jürgen Raible 

FRANCFOTT - From 8 February to 26 May 2013, the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung will shed new light on ancient Greece in an extensive exhibition entitled "Back to Classic”. Featuring some eighty outstanding works – bronze sculptures, vases, paintings, terracottas and painted figural vessels – this large-scale exhibition and research project will provide a new means of access to the history of the art and culture of Greek Classicism in the fifth and fourth century BC. Along with reconstructions developed especially for the show, these objects will demonstrate the tremendous innovative impetus underlying the aesthetic and intellectual developments of that age. Greek Classicism is regarded as the foundation of the values and culture shared by the countries of Europe, and as such has continued to have an extraordinary impact on European culture to this day. Yet our perception of that epoch, which waxed and waned more than 2,500 years ago, is strongly limited and often manipulated. On the one hand, a significant portion of the original works of art and writing has been irretrievably lost; on the other hand, Roman copies and various phases of neo-classicist reception often distort our view of what has survived. In the Frankfurt exhibition, original masterworks of Greek bronze sculpture and painting – among them spectacular new finds from Porticello and Brindisi – will offer a different, unadulterated picture of classical art. In addition to a large number of loans from collections as far-flung as Berlin, London, New York, Paris, Rome and St Petersburg, the reconstruction of a Riace warrior and the hunting fresco of Vergina – developed on the basis of the latest scientific and technological insights – will bring the original appearance of world-famous masterpieces back to life. A comprehensive catalogue offering a nuanced overview of current scientific and scholarly findings on Greek Classicism will accompany the show.

The conception of the exhibition curated by Vinzenz Brinkmann was accompanied by a carefully chosen scientific committee whose members are Salvatore Settis, former director of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Hans-Joachim Gehrke, former president of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Oliver Primavesi, Leibniz Prize recipient and rediscoverer of the philosophy of the fifth century BC, Claudio Parisi Presicce, director of the Capitoline Museums, and Wulf Raeck, excavator of Classical Priene. Along with their pupils, these scholars have all carried out significant research work in the fields addressed by the exhibition project. In their contributions to the comprehensive exhibition catalogue, they will present their latest scientific findings in the areas of archaeology, ancient history and classical philology.

The Greek art of the so-called Classical period developed an entirely new image of the human being. Particularly the first fifty years of this era can be considered exceptionally avant-gardist – so much so that in antique literature a term was coined especially for the relatively brief timespan between the end of the Persian wars (480/79 BC) and the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431 BC): the "Pentecontaetia”. Within just a few generations, the painters and sculptors of the epoch arrived at an entirely new perspective on the human being. The mirroring of terrestrial conflicts and lifeworld complexities in the sphere of the gods likewise assumed permanent form during that time. The human being was visualized in a degree of differentiation and intellectual dialectic never attained again. For the first time in the history of mankind, the viewer’s gaze and state of mind were taken completely captive. Sculptors created figures that moved freely in space; painters developed the entire gamut of illusionistic devices. This level of sophistication and inner tension would not be reached again until the Italian Renaissance.

The present-day conception of fifth-century Classical Greece has been distorted by various stages and phases of interpretation and the supposed adoption of the "classical”: the cultural propaganda struggle of the Periclean age, but also the numerous selections – some of them disastrous – carried out within the context of classicist currents, adaptations to Christian-ethical or bourgeois-moral ideals and countless copies have all served to distort the image of classicism. A particularly tragic aspect here is the colossal loss of original Classical works through natural decay and deliberate destruction alike. The recovery of original bronze sculptures of unprecedented beauty and formal force from the oceans over the past forty years has truly emancipated us from this view of the fifth as well as the fourth century BC. Works such as the Portrait of a Philosopher from Southern Italy or the Head of an African Man from Cyrenaica, both to be presented in the show, will convey an impression of the mastery characteristic of "true” or "genuine” classicism. The aim of the Frankfurt exhibition is to liberate classicism from its interpretations and ambiguities and thus to provide access to the "other” classicism in its overall context. In addition to providing fundamental insights into the style and impact of original Classical Greek bronze sculpture and painting, the presentation will also seek to shed light on ideologically and aesthetically oriented perspectives, and thus contribute to creating an understanding of the Classical age that does justice to that culture in all its many testimonies and expressions.

The exhibition structure is based on two central aspects. Taking the present as the point of departure, in the first section the visitor will be introduced to the wide range of classicisms, proceeding backward in time to the fourth and fifth centuries BC – the actual core of classicism. This section will be designed as a walk-in wall newspaper with texts, pictures and quotations, and structured by objects and artworks of the various epochs.

The second thematic complex will revolve around the presentation of spectacular new finds enabling visitors to experience the expressive power of original Classical works first hand. Here the focus will be directed primarily towards original Greek bronze sculpture in its exceptional formal and narrative diversity. Among the objects on view in this context will be such highlights as the Boxer of Quirinal and the bronze Capitoline Horse from Rome. The marble sculptures, particularly the post-Classical antique copies, will be shown in a spatially separate section of the show, where visitors can gain an impression of initial steps in the gradual departure from the originals. The famous Apollo Sauroctonos will serve as an especially telling example of that process.

In addition to Greek bronze sculpture, the exhibition will endeavour to convey the uniqueness of Classical painting. Over the past four decades, numerous wall paintings have been discovered in Macedonian tombs, granting us an unclouded view of original Greek painting. In this connection, a precise restorative reconstruction of a hunting frieze from the façade of the so-called Tomb of Philip II in Vergina (ca. 320 BC) has been carried out in cooperation with Greek scholars of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Along with superb paintings on large-scale funerary vessels likewise to be presented in the show, the hunting frieze will provide impressive testimony to the artistic and intellectual sophistication attained by the ancient Greeks in painting – the artistic medium most highly appreciated in their time.

Since the discovery of the Riace bronzes in 1972 off the coast of Calabria, several broadly based technical-scientific investigations have been carried out, yielding remarkable insights into antique working methods. These findings were taken into account in the Liebieghaus’s elaborate reconstructions, which represent an important aspect of the exhibition concept in the area of bronze sculpture as well. During the preliminary stages of the preparations for the show, an authentic cast of the head of a warrior was made within the context of a scientific experiment on the complex technique of bronze casting practised in antiquity. The reconstruction of the famous statue of the Riace Warrior A (460–450 BC, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria) conveys the original appearance of this large-scale bronze as vividly as it does the technical aspects of its production. Carried out by Edilberto Formigle, a specialist in ancient Greek bronze technology, this archaeological experiment also encompasses the supplementation of the missing inlay elements such as the warrior’s eyes and teeth, as well as the recovery of the artificial patina.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue. Publisher: Hirmer Verlag, editor: Vinzenz Brinkmann, articles by E. Formigli, H.-J. Gehrke, C. Parisi Presicce, O. Primavesi, W. Raeck, S. Settis and A. Stewart. German edition, approx. 380 pages, approx. 550 illustrations, 39.80 euros (museum edition)

Exposition Back to Classic à la Liebighaus, Francfort

The exhibition and research project provides a new means of access to the history of the art and culture of Greek Classicism in the fifth and fourth century BC.

Statue of a horse from an equestrian group, found in Rome (Trastevere), 5th century B.C. Bronze, Height 200 cm. Musei Capitolini, Rome© Zeno Colantoni.

ROME.- A visitor takes photos of a painting during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- A worker adds the final touches to the lightings of a painting during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- A worker adds finishing touches to the space during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- A man walks past a painting during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- A worker adds finishing touches to the space during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE. 

ROME.- A worker adds finishing touches to the space during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- A worker adds finishing touches to the space during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

ROME.- People walk on February 6, 2013 past a painting during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.

Evening coat, Liberty & Co. (British, founded London, 1875). Textile by Arthur Silver (British, 1853–1896), 1910–15, silk. Length at CB: 43 1/2 in. (110.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Jane Mead von Salis Funtanella, 1984. Accession Number: 2009.300.551 © 2000–2013 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

SEVILLE.- The art work Ghost Gu Coming Down the Mountain by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei during an exhibition at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- The art work Colored Vases by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei during an exhibition at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- The art work Divina Proportione by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei during an exhibition at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- Part of the art work Sunflower Seeds by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei during an exhibition at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- People stand next to the art work entitled Descending Light by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla on February 8, 2013. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- A man looks at the art work entitled Descending Light by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla on February 8, 2013. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- The art work entitled Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla on February 8, 2013. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

SEVILLE.- The art work Ghost Gu Coming Down the Mountain by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei during an exhibition at the monastery of La Cartuja-Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Sevilla. AFP PHOTO / CRISTINA QUICLER.

Dish, Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1555-1560. Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed. Diameter: 31.7 cm. Salting Bequest. Museum number: C.1994-1910 © V&A Images.

Deep white dish with large central floral motif, wreathed with jasmine branches and surrounded in the outer area by tulips and hyacinths. The rim, slightly foliated, is decorated with a Chinese-inspired wave border.

Bibliographic References: Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 257, p. 141.

Jar, Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1480. Fritware, underglaze painted in blue, glazed. Height: 24.5 cm, Diameter: 23.5 cm. Purchased with the assistance of the Bryan Bequest and The Art Fund. Museum number: C.57-1952 © V&A Images.

Globular jar, with short neck curling out at the lip and a near-symmetrical foot. The decoration, painted under the glaze in blue and white, is in the court style developed in the reign of Sultan Mehmed II (ruled 1451-1481); formerly known as the Abraham of Kutahya style in a ceramics context, it was renamed the Baba Nakkash style by Julian Raby by analogy with designs on paper attributed to this man, who seems to have been head of the palace scriptorium in the relevant period. The decoration of the main body of the jar is divided into three horizontal bands. In the wider central register a double scrollwork pattern -- split-palmette scrolls over smaller floral scrolls -- is reserved in a cobalt-blue ground, and the band at the shoulder and above the foot have peony scrolls in blue on white. On the neck and the foot the narrow bands of decoration -- a guilloche motif, a interlace pattern, and a row of complex cresting -- divided by two torus mouldings, left plain white.

Originally in the Kelekian Collection

Bibliographic References: "Making Haste Slowly", Hali vol.24, issue 122 (2002), pp.80-81 (article about the creation of the Middle East Section) 
Raby, Julian & Atasoy, Nurhan, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London, 1989). Colour figure 276; pp. 39 (fig. 31), 47, 77, 79. 
The Arts of Islam. An exhibition organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain in association with the World of Islam Festival Trust. Hayward Gallery, 8 April-4 July 1976. Cat.no.405, p.265. 
Lane, Arthur, "Ottoman Pottery of Isnik", Ars Orientalis 2 (1957):pp.45-48, plate 23a 
The Kelekian Collection of Persian and Analogous Potteries 1885-1910 (Paris, 1910), cat.no. 102

Bowl. Iznik, Turkey, early 16th century. Fritware, underglaze painted in cobalt blue and turquoise, glazed. Diameter: 20.6 cm, Height: 9.9 cm. Museum number: 277-1893 © V&A Images.

White bowl, with painted decoration in blue and turquoise. Curved from narrow foot out to wider bowl, and inverted slightly towards rim. Border of leaves and stripes around base exterior.Two blue stripes just under exterior rim and two just under interior rim, and around base interior. Interior and exterior body of bowl decorated with sprays and trails of flowers and leaves in blue and turquoise.

Bowl. Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1530-1540. Fritware, underglaze painted in cobalt blue, glazed. Height: 8.5 cm, Diameter: 18.3 cm. Museum number: 790-1905 © V&A Images.

Bowl of grey fritware, painted in blue and covered with a clear glaze. Painted outside with conventional flowers and foliage branching from a continuous wavy stem. Inside on the bottom are flowers and foliage on a spiral stem in a medallion and round the side is a wide band of closely-set leafy stems with flowers.

Found in excavating the foundations of a new post office at Sirkeci.

Bibliographic References: Atasoy, Nurhan and Raby, Julian. Iznik: The pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London : Alexandria Press, 1989. pp. 108-109, Pl. 134.

Bowl. Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1530. Fritware, underglaze painted in cobalt blue, glazed. Height: 20.5 cm, Diameter: 38.5 cm. Given by C. H. Campbell, Esq. Museum number: C.257-1921 © V&A Images.

The interior of the bowl is divided into a new compositional scheme of radiating arcades which have alternating blue and white grounds and which are filled with alternating axial and rotational designs. Palmettes with turquoise centres and diminutive serrated leaves are also painted. The outside of the basin is loosely painted with a sequence of large rosettes with indented contours and most noticeably dark blue detailing in the centre which resembles the spokes of a wheel. The same type of rosette can be seen in the white ground panels on the inside of the bowl.

Iznik pottery of Ottoman Turkey survives in such quantities, and is of such varied techniques and styles of painting that it has long been susceptible to stylistic division. The bright colours and lively designs are, in the context of ceramic development, an extraordinary creative innovation. Iznik pottery stands out in comparison to Miletus wares that proceeded it and Kutahya wares that followed.

Bibliographic References: Lane, Arthur. Later Islamic Pottery. London: Faber and Faber, 1957. 133p., ill. Page 48, plate 28B 
Atasoy/Raby: Atasoy, Nurhan and Raby, Julian Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandria Press, 1989, p. 106, ill. 130. 
Watson, Oliver Ceramics from Islmaic Lands London: Thames & Hudson, 2004 
Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publishing, 2008, pp. 66-67.

Dish, Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1550-1555. Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed. Diameter: 36.8 cm. Salting Bequest. Museum number: C.1982-1910 © V&A Images.

White dish with blue tulips and purplish carnations on spiky stems. Rim is slightly foliated. 

Bibliographic References: Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 369 (color).

After 1520, the potters of Iznik gradually expanded their range of colours. By 1550, they were using blue, turquoise, sage green, tones of mauve and purple, and a greenish black.These colours have been used to depict sprays of flowers that all rise from a small clump of leaves.

Ewer, Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1520. Fritware, polychrome underglaze painted, glazed; later silver mounts. Height: 22.3 cm, Width: 15.5 cm including spout, Depth: 11 cm. Salting Bequest. Museum number: C.2008-1910 © V&A Images.

Blue and white angular ewer, decorated with arabesques and stylized clouds. Restored in the 19th century with silver mounts.

The scrolling arabesques and stylized cloud bands on this little ewer recall earlier Islamic ornament; but the design has become more open and free, looking forward to the classical Iznik style of hand-painted floral motifs. The metal mounts were added as repairs later, possibly in the nineteenth century.

Bibliographic References: Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 97, p. 97.

The large basins in this case were probably made as sets with equally large ewers, but none of the ewers has survived. This smaller ewer, and that to the right, show what they may have looked like. Their angular shapes were based on metal ewers. Both have been repaired with metal mounts after they were damaged.

Fritware painted under the glaze with metal mounts.

Ewer, Iznik, Turkey, ca. 1520-1525. Fritware, underglaze painted in cobalt blue, glazed; later silver mounts. Height: 23.8 cm, Width: 15 cm including spout, Depth: 11 cm. Museum number: 349-1897 © V&A Images.

Blue and white rectangular ewer with arabesque designs in a diamond-shaped field, restored in the 19th century with silver mounts including a dragon's-head spout.

Bibliographic References: Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey (London: Alexandria Press, 1989), fig. 126, p. 106. 

In the 1520s Iznik potters stopped using white on a blue ground. This had been the main colour scheme since production started around 1470. Blue decoration on a white ground took its place, and the range of colours was expanded to include turquoise (seen here on the neck). Later black, sage-green and purple were introduced.