The Ottoman empire is often called the greatest of the late Islamic empires, and in their height, territories under their control included Anatolia, much of the Arab Peninsula, as well as a large area of Eastern Europe. They conquered Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul, and the Mamluk empire fell to them in 1517. By the mid-sixteenth century the Ottoman empire controlled a vast expanse of territory that spread from the edge of Europe in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east, and the Mediterranean African coast to the south. Under Sulayman the Magnificent (ruled 1520-66) the Ottoman empire reached its height of political and military power, as well as cultural achievement.¹

This tall elegant bottle dates to the early years of Sulayman's reign. It is made from stonepaste, with underglaze-painted spiral decoration in cobalt blue and turquoise. The spiral design pattern such as that scene on this piece came to be known as the 'Golden Horn' motif (see detail of pattern) after excavations in the 1900s on the southern shore of the Golden Horn estuary in Istanbul uncovered pieces decorated in this style. As the British Museum web site relates, the name has remained, even though it is no longer believed that they were actually produced at the site.²  In fact, most so-called 'Golden Horn' wares were actually produced in Iznik and Kutahya, the main regions of Ottoman-era high quality ceramics production.³  The ultimate source of the spiral pattern may be Timurid metalwork, which was brought to the Ottoman capital in 1514 after a victory over the Safavids in Iran, since the spiral pattern began to appear in Ottoman pottery and illumination only after this year.⁴

(1) This information has been summarized from the page entitled The Late Islamic Period, posted on the Los Angeles County Museum's website.

(2) See the British Museum web page dedicated to this object.