An Iznik polychrome pottery tile with saz leaves and floral blossoms, Turkey, circa 1575

The use of the distinctive raised 'sealing-wax' red under a flawless glaze, combined with the vivid cobalt blue and viridian are typical of production in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. The design draws on the so-called saz leaf style which had reached the height of its popularity by 1570. The origins of the style were in a genre already established in the Timurid, Aqqoyunlu and Safavid traditions of Persia, examples of which would have arrived in Istanbul by the second quarter of the sixteenth century. Persian artists skilled in these traditions also came to the Ottoman court, notably Sahkulu (d.1555-56) who went on to become head of the court atelier in the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (r.1520-66) and has been identified as a virtuoso of the saz style "in which stylised chinoiserie lotus leaves are worked up into heavily modelled, intricate compositions with feathery leaves" (J.M. Rogers, Empire of the Sultans, Ottoman Art from the Collection of Nasser D. Khalili, London, 1995, p.224).