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Investing in Turkish Treasures

Date: circa 1575
Size: 3.9 by 8.9 inches
List price: £14,000 ($21,979)

Like dishes and bowls, Iznik tiles are extremely decorative and detailed, often using the colors cobalt blue and emerald green set on a white background.

Tiles were often commissioned by sultans for the walls of important buildings, as many a visitor to Istanbul knows.

“This border tile contains part of a stylized meandering floral design, and along with similar tiles would have framed a large central pattern on the wall of a mosque, palace or other important building,” London dealer Simon M. W. Ray writes in his notes.