Large Diyarbekir tile panel Southeastern Anatolia, Ottoman period, late 16th - early 17th century Siliceous ceramic with painted decoration under a colorless transparent glaze, consisting of four tiles with composite flowers and saz leaves, surrounded by a border of tiles with interlocking palmettes and fleurons, in an old wooden frame. Accidents. Lacks and major restorations. These tiles were used to decorate the mosque of Malik Ahmad Pasha, built at the end of the 16th century in Diyarbekir, a town in southwestern Anatolia. Malik Ahmad Pasha was governor of Diyarbekir during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Murad IV (r. 1623-40), and it may well have been at this time that he had the mosque that bears his name decorated with locally produced tiles in imitation of Iznik motifs. Although Diyarbekir tiles often repeat Iznik motifs, their format is often larger than that of Iznik tiles, and their hue bluer. See a fine panel of Diyarbekir tiles forming a mihrab sold at Sotheby's, London, October 24, 2018, lot 181.