Hanging Ornament thumbnail 1
Hanging Ornament thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Hanging Ornament

1342-1390 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Egypt (made)

Glass globe for suspension with a mosque lamp, decorated with gilded and enamelled horizontal frieze of Arabic inscription and Mamluk blazon, produced for Amir Saif al-Din `Aziz al-Alawi, Mamluk Egypt, 1342-1390

Object details

Categories
Glass
Islam
Africa
Object type
Hanging ornament
Materials and techniques
Gilded and enamelled glass
Brief description
Glass globe for suspension with a mosque lamp, decorated with gilded and enamelled horizontal frieze of Arabic inscription and Mamluk blazon, Mamluk Egypt, 1340-1390
Physical description
Glass globe for suspension with a mosque lamp, decorated with gilded and enamelled horizontal frieze of Arabic inscription and Mamluk blazon, produced for Amir Saif al-Din `Aziz al-Alawi, Mamluk Egypt, 1342-1390
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.5cm
  • Maximum width: 14.1cm
Styles
ISLAM
ISLAMIC
Mamluk
Marks and inscriptions
minma `umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-ashraf al-`ali al-mawlawi al-kabiri al-muhtarami al-makhdumi al-saifi `aziz al-`alawi al-maliki al-salihi `izz nasrihi (For Saif al-Din `Aziz al-`Alawi, Mamluk officer serving al-Malik al-Salih, indicating one of three Mamluk Sultans: al-Salih Isma`il (r.1342-45), al-Salih Salih (r.1351-54) or al-Salih Hajji (r.1382-90).)
Translation
"Made for His Excellency, the noble, the elevated, the lord, the great, the honoured, the master, Sayf al-Din `Aziz al-`Alawi, [officer of] al-Malik al-Salih, may his victory be glorious."
Gallery label
The globe once served as a decorative fixture on the chains from which a mosque lamp was suspended. The inscription includes the name of an Amir whose building the object once decorated. It is uncertain which Sultan the Amir served of the three possible 'al-Salih's' in the middle of the 14th century.
Object history
The blazon has a white napkin on a red ground, between a self-coloured ground above and a white field below.
Bibliographic references
  • Carboni, S., and Whitehouse, D. Glass of the Sultans, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2001 pp.238-9
  • Mayer, L. A., Saracenic Heraldry: A Survey. Oxford, 1933, pp.92-3, and pl.xxxi, 1.
  • Lamm, Carl Johan. Mittelalterliche Gläser und Steinschnittarbeiten aus dem Nahen Osten. 2 vols. Forschungen zur islamischen Kunst, 5. Berlin, 1929-30. pl. 191:7
  • Schmoranz, Gustav. Altorientalische Glas-Gefässe . Vienna, 1898. Figs. 15, 17
Other number
8264 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
333-1900

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Record createdDecember 13, 1997
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O823/hanging-ornament-unknown/
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