Ceramics made in Iznik, in western Turkey, represent one of the most renowned and influential arts of the Ottoman period. The Iznik kilns, about 85 miles southeast of the capital, Istanbul, produced both tableware and architectural revetment such as this. Tiles were first manufactured at Iznik around the early 16th century, however, production increased dramatically in the second half of the century as the court sponsored more and more new buildings.

Toward the mid-sixteenth century the palette of Iznik wares expanded to include a brilliant red and a bright grass green, as here. This magnificent and rare surviving tile with sumptuous flowers and lower border painted to imitate breccia marble probably comes from the royal living quarters of Murad III (1574-95) at the Topkapi Saray Palace, Istanbul, completed in 1588, where it probably formed part of a repetitive decorative band along the lower section of a wall. This section of the palace suffered a devastating fire in 1665. On that account many of the remaining tiles were removed and some found their way to western museums (also see AC1995.124.1).

Objects of this type, both tile revetment and vessels, demonstrate the great variety of ornament used by Iznik potters, including the ubiquitous tulip; lush, plump peonies and carnations; and spiky and scrolling leaves as well as bold epigraphic ornament. They also help to illustrate the different stylistic phases of Iznik wares, which in turn reflect the evolution of Ottoman taste in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a variety of mediums.

• Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

• Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
• Hess, Catherine. The Arts of Fire: Islamic Influences on Glass and Ceramics of the Italian Renaissance. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2004.
• Komaroff, Linda.  Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 2005.
• Komaroff, Linda. Collecting Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: A Curatorial Perspective. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues; LACMA, 2017.