A SOUVENIR FROM KUTAHYA: A FRILLED-RIM POTTERY VASE Kutahya, Ottoman Turkey, pre-1921
A SOUVENIR FROM KUTAHYA: A FRILLED-RIM POTTERY VASE
Kutahya, Ottoman Turkey, pre-1921
Of pyriform, bulbous shape, resting on a splayed circular foot, rising to a flared conical neck with a frilled and lobed rim, painted in cobalt blue, black, green, purple and turquoise on a white ground, the body and neck decorated in free-hand with a ground of fish-scale pattern, three medallions around the body with hatayi motifs and the Turkish inscription 'Yadgar-i Kutahya' meaning 'Souvenir from Kutahya', the neck enhanced with small rosettes, the rim and foot with bands of palmettes in cobalt blue, 26cm high.
Souvenir vases like ours began to be produced in the Kutahya kilns over the course of the late 1800s, following an increase in the number of foreign tourists. The phrase 'Souvenir from Kutahya', or at times just 'Kutahya', was written in Ottoman-Arabic characters and was also translated into Armenian and Greek on occasions. After the revolution of the Greeks and the liberation of Kutahya from the Turks in 1921, the popularity of Kutahya wares grew massively, as Greek officers and servicemen commissioned them to take them home. In some cases, certain wares even commemorated the revolution with inscriptions reading 'Capture of Kutahya by the Greek army 4/7/1921'; others were commissioned to include personalised initials.
The fish-scale motif seen on our vase is a typical motif of the Kutahya kiln repertoire, long-used prior to the Greek invasion, but was retained as a popular design coupled with rosettes and hatayi flower compositions. For more information on Kutahya wares in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, please see Dinos T. Kogias, Souvenir of Kutahya: Imprints of History on Kutahya's Pottery, catalogue exhibition of the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2021.
(Qty: 1)
26cm high
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A SOUVENIR FROM KUTAHYA: A FRILLED-RIM POTTERY VASE
Kutahya, Ottoman Turkey, pre-1921
Of pyriform, bulbous shape, resting on a splayed circular foot, rising to a flared conical neck with a frilled and lobed rim, painted in cobalt blue, black, green, purple and turquoise on a white ground, the body and neck decorated in free-hand with a ground of fish-scale pattern, three medallions around the body with hatayi motifs and the Turkish inscription 'Yadgar-i Kutahya' meaning 'Souvenir from Kutahya', the neck enhanced with small rosettes, the rim and foot with bands of palmettes in cobalt blue, 26cm high.
Souvenir vases like ours began to be produced in the Kutahya kilns over the course of the late 1800s, following an increase in the number of foreign tourists. The phrase 'Souvenir from Kutahya', or at times just 'Kutahya', was written in Ottoman-Arabic characters and was also translated into Armenian and Greek on occasions. After the revolution of the Greeks and the liberation of Kutahya from the Turks in 1921, the popularity of Kutahya wares grew massively, as Greek officers and servicemen commissioned them to take them home. In some cases, certain wares even commemorated the revolution with inscriptions reading 'Capture of Kutahya by the Greek army 4/7/1921'; others were commissioned to include personalised initials.
The fish-scale motif seen on our vase is a typical motif of the Kutahya kiln repertoire, long-used prior to the Greek invasion, but was retained as a popular design coupled with rosettes and hatayi flower compositions. For more information on Kutahya wares in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, please see Dinos T. Kogias, Souvenir of Kutahya: Imprints of History on Kutahya's Pottery, catalogue exhibition of the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2021.
(Qty: 1)
26cm high
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
