Oil Lamp thumbnail 1
Not on display

Oil Lamp

1100-1200 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The well is shaped like a bowl with flat base and rounded sides, a low moulding around the opening serving as a neck. The lid is moulded in the form of a feline mask. Two wick-holders project from the front of the well. These cut through the middle of the bowl, the underside is on a level with the flat base. The wick-holders have straight, parallel sides, the upper side horizontal, the underside slanting slightly and then more sharply up to the lotus bud-shaped opening. A lateral flange in the form of a tri-lobed arch projects from either side of the well. At the rear is a ring handle surmounted by a thumb-rest which rises at a 45' angle.

Below, three chamfered legs descend at a slant then break at an angle into quarter circles resting on hexagonal feet. Engraved decoration consisting of foliated scrolls is confined to the two trefoil flanges, a band that encircles the well mouth and the plates that partially cover the spouts. The upperside of the thumb rest has an engraved design of addorsed birds looking back to peck at an inverted lotus bud.

Patina: Uniform, mat blackish brown

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cast brass with engraved decoration
Brief description
Cast bronze oil lamp, on tripod feet with two wicks with engraved decoration, Iran (Khorasan), 12th century
Physical description
The well is shaped like a bowl with flat base and rounded sides, a low moulding around the opening serving as a neck. The lid is moulded in the form of a feline mask. Two wick-holders project from the front of the well. These cut through the middle of the bowl, the underside is on a level with the flat base. The wick-holders have straight, parallel sides, the upper side horizontal, the underside slanting slightly and then more sharply up to the lotus bud-shaped opening. A lateral flange in the form of a tri-lobed arch projects from either side of the well. At the rear is a ring handle surmounted by a thumb-rest which rises at a 45' angle.

Below, three chamfered legs descend at a slant then break at an angle into quarter circles resting on hexagonal feet. Engraved decoration consisting of foliated scrolls is confined to the two trefoil flanges, a band that encircles the well mouth and the plates that partially cover the spouts. The upperside of the thumb rest has an engraved design of addorsed birds looking back to peck at an inverted lotus bud.

Patina: Uniform, mat blackish brown
Dimensions
  • With thumb rest height: 10.8cm
  • Without thumb rest height: 8.3cm
  • Without lid height: 7cm
  • Maximum length: 15.9cm
  • Maximum, of bowl diameter: 6.35cm
Style
Gallery label
OIL-LAMP Cast brass with engraved decoration PERSIAN (Khorasan); 12th century(Used until 11/2003)
Object history
Purchased for £10 from Signore C. Filippo, 131 Rue Bonaparte, Paris, 27 September 1909

Historical significance: The thumb-rest compares with that of an ewer found at Shahrestan in Mavera al-Nahr.

Two unpublished pieces in the Muzim-i Bakhtar at Mazar-i Sharif and the Muzim-i Rawza at Ghazni are fitted with comparable lids.

The feet can be compared with those of a three-wick lamp reportedly excavated on the site of khanqah of Baha al-Din Valad, Mowlavi's father, 40 km from Balkh.
Bibliographic references
  • Melikian-Chirvani, A.S. Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, London:HMSO, 1982, p101-102, ISBN 0 11 290252 9
  • p.96 Al Khemir, Sabiha, Beauty and Belief. Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, (Brigham Young University of Art, 2012), ISBN: 9780842528115
Collection
Accession number
M.112-1909

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Record createdApril 20, 2000
Record URL
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