Iznik Garden Covered Mug with Tea Infuser

$30.00 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The tranquil scene on our covered mug comes from a painted stonepaste dish (ca. 1575–90) in The Met collection. Crafted in the Turkish town of Iznik, which was renowned for its pottery workshops, this Museum treasure is adorned with colorful carnations, tulips, and hyacinths, as well as two small birds subtly perched amid the tangle. These flowers, sometimes in combination with birds, were pervasive decorative elements on 16th- and 17th-century Iznik creations.