A rare Ottoman 'Miletus' ware pottery bowl, Turkey, 14th-15th century, slip-decorated earthenware body with dark and lighter blue, mauve, the foliate stylised designs against a cream ground, fragments reconstructed into bowl with infill, underside of foot handwritten 'Miletos ware, see page 142, The Iznik Tile, Kiln Excavation, 1981-88', 19.1cm, diam.Provenance: Private Collection of Theo Sarmas (1938-2018). Theo Sarmas was a London businessman who was a passionate collector of Byzantine ceramics and Greek coinage. Princeton University, New Jersey holds the Theo Sarmas collection of medieval Greek coinage.This type of pottery, a pre-curser to Iznik ceramics, came to be known as 'Miletus' because examples were first excavated in the ancient town of Miletus in South-West Turkey, but have subsequently also been found in Iznik (Carswell 1998, p.29). Further examples of this type of rare pottery are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. nos. C.17-1982 and inv. no. 792-1905. Please refer to department for condition report