A PALESTINIAN IZNIK-STYLE POTTERY MUG WITH THE BRITISH ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS EMBLEM
Jerusalem, Holy Land, ca. 1922 - 1948

Of broad cylindrical shape, resting on a short straight foot, with a thick curved handle to the side, painted in red, yellow, green, blue and black against a white ground, decorated with typical Iznik-inspired motifs like carnation and chrysanthemum stems to the body and leaves to the handle, opposite to the handle the emblem of the 16th Regiment of the British Royal Army Medical Corps, formed in 1898 and providing medical support to British soldiers all over the world, and the acronym B. G. H (standing for British General Hospital), 12.3cm high.

After World War II, Britain took over the territory of Palestine, seizing it from the Middle Eastern powers and beginning to run operations from there. During the Mandate Period (Britain's control over Palestine until 1948), a great number of Armenians decided to settle there, specifically in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, fleeing Turkish persecution. Among them, there was the renowned potter David Ohannessian. Prior to Jerusalem, Ohannessian had worked in Kutahya, Turkey, and was considered a master of Kutahya pottery, having also founded the Societe Ottomane de Faience workshop in 1907 (Souvenir of Kutahya: Imprints of History on Kutahya's Pottery, Benaki Museum exhibition catalogue, 2021, p. 29).

In 1919, Ohannessian recruited Nishan Balian and Megerditch Karakashian to assist in the restoration of the Dome of the Rock project, helping them and their families to relocate from Kutahya to Jerusalem. In the end, Ohannessian's restoration plans were rejected and the project scrapped. Nevertheless, Balian and Karakashian chose to stay and open their own workshop on Nablus Road in 1922. They continued using the Kutahya and Iznik design repertoires while starting to incorporate new designs drawn from different sources of inspiration (ibidem, p.103). The partners marked their works' undersides with the inscription 'Palestine' and their first initials in Armenian characters 'Գ' and 'Պ', as seen on the base of our mug (the full translation of their names being Գարագաշեան-Պալեան).

On our mug, flanking the emblem of the Royal Army Medical Corps, there are two abbreviations and acronyms, '16th' referring to the 16th Regiment of the Corps, and 'B.G.H' standing for British General Hospital. It is more than likely that this mug would have once been part of a local commission for the British hospital in Jerusalem, perhaps brought back with soldiers upon their return to Britain.