AIGUIÈRE AUX VERTUS

LARGE OTTOMAN LANCIER DISH
Round and hollow dish in polychrome earthenware,
the central decoration is mainly in blue cameos
of a Turkish lancer rider, perhaps the
Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (1432-1481),
wearing a green turban and carrying a scimitar at his side,
he stands on his prancing horse on a yellow
yellow terrace. The wing is decorated with twenty-eight circles
of intertwined light-green palms shaded
blue. Reverse with colorless glaze and snail motifs.
snail motifs. Two original suspension
original.
Italy, Deruta, 16th century, circa 1530
Height: 8 cm - Diameter: 40.7 cm
(Visible damages and restorations)

The Ottoman Empire was the largest empire
of the Islamic world and the longest surviving
survived. Followers of Sunni Islam,
the Ottomans rapidly expanded their territories
and seized Constantinople in
1453. Selim I ("the sinister", r. 1512 - 20) recaptured
Egypt and Syria from the Mamluks in 1517,
and campaigns in Iran led to a major
a major defeat for their Safavid rivals.
Selim's successor, Suleiman I "The Magnificent
Magnificent" led the Ottoman forces to Vienna
Vienna, where they were repulsed in 1529.
This is the precise context in which our majolica dish was produced.
our majolica dish: the representation of the
of the galloping Ottoman horseman was as much feared
as feared as it was admired in the West
first half of the 16th century. It is probably
a representation of Sultan
Mehmed the Conqueror (1432 - 1481).
Dishes with the Ottoman Lancier can be found in the
British Museum [N°1855,0313. 3], the Fitzwilliam
Museum [C. 100-1927] and the MAK
(Museum für Angewandte Kunst) in Vienna.