Hexagonal tile with interlacing split-palmette and floral pattern

This hexagonal tile, 9 1/4 inches across, shows a highly developed leaf and tendril decoration on a white slip. The colors, turquoise and dark blue, are characteristic of the early products of the Iznik factories. From its similarity in style to the Iznik tiles in the Yeni Kaplica Baths in Bursa, it can be dated around the second decade of the sixteenth century. Alternate points of the geometric center ornament, which was probably drawn with the aid of a stencil, contain a small crescent-like ornament similar to that in yellow on the Bursa tile. The pattern of the tile is contained within a border, but the border itself was meant to be continuous with those of similar tiles. The surface of the tile is flat, and the ceramic itself is white silicaceous clay. --entered by sb02/04/03