Mosque Lamp

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Mosque Lamp

Place of OriginEgypt

Date1331-1335

DimensionsH: 10 13/16 in. (27.5 cm); Rim Diam: 8 in. (20.3 cm)

MediumGlass; blown, with enamelled and gilded decoration

ClassificationGlass

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

Object number

1940.118

Not on View

Label TextElaborate lamps such as this were made to light tombs, mosques, madrasas (schools) and hospices. They were highly prized and probably rarely used. A small metal receptacle filled with oil was suspended inside the glass globe from the neck; the entire lamp would then be hung from the ceiling by chains through the loops around its body. The elaborate inscription running around the neck suggests that the lamp was made for Shams al-Din ‘Ali: “One of the things made for the son of the sublime excellency, the master, the revered, the masterful, [officer] of al-Nasir, Nasir al-Din Muhammad, [son of] the excellency.” The extensive use of gilding (much of it now worn away) as a background for the calligraphy and the use of pink—a rare enamel color—are exceptional in Mamluk glass.Published References

Devonshire, "Some Moslem Objects in the Eumorfopoulos Collection," Apollo, January 1927, pp. 14-15.

Wiet, Gaston, Catalogue General du Musee Arabe du Caire, Lamps et Bouteilles en Verre Emaille, Egypt, 1929, p. 162.

Revaisse, P., Une Lampe Sepulcrale en Verre Emaille au nom D'Arghun En-Nasari, Paris, Geuthner, 1931, pp. 8, 10.

Wiet, Gaston, "Les Lamps d'Arghun," Syria, vol. XIV, 1933, pp. 203-206.

Mayer, A.L., "Note," Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, vol. XIII.

Reifstahl, Rudolf M., "Ancient and Near Eastern Glass," Toledo Museum of Art News, New Series, Spring 1961, vol. 4, no. 2, repr. p. 45.

Reifstahl, Rudolf M., "The Complexities of Ancient Glass," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 437, repr. (col.) p. 435, pl. VI.

Labino, Dominick, Visual Art in Glass, Dubuque, 1968, pp. 36, 37, repr. fig. 23.

Art in Glass: A Guide to the Glass Collections, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 1969, repr. (col.) p. 34.

Horowitz, Frederick A., More Than You See: A Guide to Art, New York, 1985, repr. p. 229.

Stewart, Marilyn G. and Eldon Katter, A Personal Journey, second edition, Worcester, MA, Davis Publications, 2009, repr. (col.) p. 111, fig. 4-22.

Exhibition History