The Iznik tiles of the second half of the sixteenth century are justly famous for their bright tomato-red color, which together with black, blue, turquoise, and green were painted in underglaze colors on the flawless white ground. This tile is unusual in several respects: it uses black in large amounts, the most important elements of the field have been quartered in the corners of the tile, and no other tiles from this panel have yet come to light.

Source: Walter Denny (1975), "Tile," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 160.

Purchased in 1885 from Noyes and Blakeslee, Boston.