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Lot Essay
The inscription around the mouth reads:
"al-'izz al-da'im wa al-iqbal al-za'id [wa] al-dawla...." (Perpetual glory and increasing prosperity and wealth).
Around the foot is written:
"al-'izz al-da'im [wa] al-iqbal al-za'id [wa] al-dawla al-baqiya wa al-salama abadan .... li-sahibihi" (Perpetual glory, increasing prosperity, lasting wealth and well being for ever to its owner).
The engraved and inlaid decoration which covers the surface of this oil lamp is typical of Mesopotamian work of the late 13th century. The form on which it is placed appears however to be without parallel in the Central Eastern Islamic world. The closest similarity is seen in a tenth century Spanish lamp offered in these Rooms, 15 October, 2002, lot 100. That has the same overall form of the twin-spouted lamp, and a handle formed by a lion with flat sided limbs. The detailing was however very different indeed.
Double spouted Byzantine oil lamps with animal handles from 5th-6th century Constantinople also existed (Byzanz, Das Licht aus dem Osten, exhibition catalogue, Mainz, 2001, no.II.6, pp.211-12). But to find the scroll moulded on the lamp in Byzantine Art, particularly with the flaring brackets from which the stem splits, one has to look at eleventh century items, such as the reliquary of Saint Demetrios dateable to 1059-67 (The Glory of Byzantium, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1997, no.36, p.77).
The form of the lion is again not fully in the Islamic tradition, particularly with regard to the way the tail curls between the legs and round the haunch. A rare twelfth century Islamic lion, whose precise place of origin was the subject of some discussion, sold recently in London, is one of the few pieces to share this feature (Sotheby's, 16 October 2002, lot 51). In all other features however the present lion is dissimilar to that figure. The features are closer to those of a Fatimid bronze fountainhead in the Islamic Museum in Cairo but they are considerably less stylised (Baer, Eva: Metalwork in Mediaeval Islamic Art, New York, 1983, pl.133, p.158). The three-dimensionality of the scroll on which the hind legs of the lion rest is reminiscent in a small way of a series of openwork door knockers, the largest of which is now in Qatar, and attributed most recently to early 13th century Syria, Jazira or Iraq (Allan, James W.: Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts, Doha, 2002, pp.14-17). This again accords with Mesopotamia being the origin of this most unusual and accomplished bronze lamp.
"al-'izz al-da'im wa al-iqbal al-za'id [wa] al-dawla...." (Perpetual glory and increasing prosperity and wealth).
Around the foot is written:
"al-'izz al-da'im [wa] al-iqbal al-za'id [wa] al-dawla al-baqiya wa al-salama abadan .... li-sahibihi" (Perpetual glory, increasing prosperity, lasting wealth and well being for ever to its owner).
The engraved and inlaid decoration which covers the surface of this oil lamp is typical of Mesopotamian work of the late 13th century. The form on which it is placed appears however to be without parallel in the Central Eastern Islamic world. The closest similarity is seen in a tenth century Spanish lamp offered in these Rooms, 15 October, 2002, lot 100. That has the same overall form of the twin-spouted lamp, and a handle formed by a lion with flat sided limbs. The detailing was however very different indeed.
Double spouted Byzantine oil lamps with animal handles from 5th-6th century Constantinople also existed (Byzanz, Das Licht aus dem Osten, exhibition catalogue, Mainz, 2001, no.II.6, pp.211-12). But to find the scroll moulded on the lamp in Byzantine Art, particularly with the flaring brackets from which the stem splits, one has to look at eleventh century items, such as the reliquary of Saint Demetrios dateable to 1059-67 (The Glory of Byzantium, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1997, no.36, p.77).
The form of the lion is again not fully in the Islamic tradition, particularly with regard to the way the tail curls between the legs and round the haunch. A rare twelfth century Islamic lion, whose precise place of origin was the subject of some discussion, sold recently in London, is one of the few pieces to share this feature (Sotheby's, 16 October 2002, lot 51). In all other features however the present lion is dissimilar to that figure. The features are closer to those of a Fatimid bronze fountainhead in the Islamic Museum in Cairo but they are considerably less stylised (Baer, Eva: Metalwork in Mediaeval Islamic Art, New York, 1983, pl.133, p.158). The three-dimensionality of the scroll on which the hind legs of the lion rest is reminiscent in a small way of a series of openwork door knockers, the largest of which is now in Qatar, and attributed most recently to early 13th century Syria, Jazira or Iraq (Allan, James W.: Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts, Doha, 2002, pp.14-17). This again accords with Mesopotamia being the origin of this most unusual and accomplished bronze lamp.