Mosque Lamp

Period Mamluk Sultanate (Egyptian, 1250 - 1517)

Place of Originprobably Cairo, Egypt

Dateabout 1349-1355 (750-756 AH)

Dimensions13 5/8 × 12 1/2 × 9 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (34.6 × 31.8 × 23.5 × 11.4 cm)

Mediumgilded and enameled glass

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1933.320

Not on View

DescriptionBlown, tooled on the pontil. Brownish colorless glass; enameled in red, green, blue, and yellow with touches of white and gold. Applied six foot-ring and loops for suspension.

Label TextImagine this lamp glowing in the dark interior of a Cairo mosque, a flickering flame illuminating the lamp’s rich enameled colors and gold from within. Lamps like this were suspended a few feet above head level by chains attached to the loops around the lamp’s body. A dish of oil and water where a lit wick floated was attached to the rim of the glass lamp by short chains, creating the beautiful and mysterious effect of glittering light. An inscription in decorative calligraphy, painted in vivid blue enamel around the neck, records a verse from the Chapter of Light in the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an: “God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. His Light is like a Niche and within it a Lamp: the lamp enclosed in glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star…” (Qur’an 24:35) Decorating glass with painted, polychrome enamels first flourished in the 13th century during the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). This lamp includes a second inscription to Amir Sayf al-Din Shaykhu al-Umari (about 1307–1357), who ordered many lamps bearing his name to furnish a building complex with a mosque and khanqah (a Sufi hospice) in Cairo, where this lamp originates. The cup motif in the roundels indicates that Shaykhu held the prestigious post of cupbearer at the Mamluk court.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, repr. (det.) p. 55, p. 66, repr. (col.) p. 67.

Putney, Richard H. and Paula Reich, Glass in Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2007, repr. (col.) p. 15, (det.) p. 14.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Luminous Visions: Phillip K. Smith III and Light Across the Collection, October 17, 2020-April 4, 2021.