Big demand for a dusty discovery
Top price at London’s Islamic art sales last week was for a small blue and white Iznik or Turkish pottery jar dating from the mid-16th century. Estimated at £60,000, it sold at Sotheby’s for £669,000, to a private collector. The jar was
discovered last year in a warehouse by London-based art consultant Diddi Malek, who previously established Bonhams’ Islamic art department, but is now an independent adviser.
Acquired in the Seventies by the owner’s father, it was covered in decadesworth of dust.
Though the owner was unaware of the piece’s significance, it had actually been illustrated in a survey of Iznik pottery published in 1989, but the author, Julian Raby, had never seen it until it appeared at Sotheby’s.
Its unusual design dates back to preislamic times and the pilgrim flasks of the Middle Bronze age.
Beautifully decorated with an intricate pattern of dogs, hares and deer playing, it is perhaps the only example of this shape, with its undulating surface, appearing in Iznik pottery.