Tile Spandrel with Floral Sprays, Turkey, Iznik, Ottoman period (1299–1922), c. 1570–75

Tile Spandrel with Floral Sprays in The Cleveland Museum of Art (accession 2004.70), classified by the museum as Ceramic, from Turkey, Iznik, Ottoman period (1299–1922), dated c.

1570–75. The museum records the material and technique as Fritware with red slip and underglaze design. Measurements: Overall: 76 x 29.9 x 2.5 cm (29 15/16 x 11 3/4 x 1 in.). Museum description: This spandrel, along with its missing right half, would have formed a decorative archway over a niche, window, or door. It reveals the artistic and technical height achieved in Iznik, a town in northwest Turkey. Craftspeople from Iznik were renowned for their production of brilliantly colored tiles for the Ottoman sultans, rulers of one of the most powerful empires in history.

The intense red on this spandrel was a technical triumph achieved with a thick iron-rich clay slip. Here, it forms red roses intertwined with leaves and other blossoms. These details are transcribed from the museum's open-access record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.