- Mosque lamp
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Mosque lamp
- Place of origin:
Egypt (probably, made)
Syria (possibly, made) - Date:
ca. 1360 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Gilded and enamelled glass
- Museum number:
323-1900
- Gallery location:
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery, case 14E
This large glass lamp has a sharply waisted body with a flaring upper section and a globular lower section with a flattened base. It stands on a low foot and has six suspension rings for hanging. The decoration, executed in gilding and coloured enamels, is in three main registers. In the upper section, a bold inscription in blue enamel is divided into three sections by large roundels. The wording of the inscription, taken from the Holy Qur'an, reads, 'Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His Light is as a wick-holder wherein is a light.' This is the beginning of the text known as the Light Verse (surah XXIV, verse 35), which was often placed on lighting implements. Within the three roundels there is a short declaration, 'Glory to our master the Sultan, the King'.
The middle register contains an elaborate and very fine pattern of interlace. The bands of the interlace have been left plain, while the surrounding ground has been filled in in red and blue enamels. This would have made the design glow when the lamp was lit. The main feature of the lower register, which fills the flattened base, is a repetition of the inscribed roundels that divide the inscription at the top.
The lamp is thought to have been made to hang in the mosque of the Mamluk sovereign Sultan Hasan, who ruled between 1347-1351 and 1354-1361.
