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Lot Essay
This cylindrical beaker is an exceptionally rare near-complete example of Islamic 'sandwich glass'. Gold leaf and blue enamel were applied to the inside of a glass beaker, after which a second glass bowl was blown into the first, encapsulating the decoration between the two layers of glass. The rims were then fused to create a unified object. This technique known as 'Sandwich glass' is known from both the Roman and Byzantine eras, but is extremely rare from the Islamic period. The benefit of this technique is that the gilt decoration can be preserved between the two layers of glass making it less likely to wear off through use. The 'sandwich glass' technique did not survive long into the Islamic era and most known examples are fragmentary. This suggests that production continued after the Islamic conquest from the original pre-Islamic production centres.
The glass beaker is decorated with an arcade formed of gold leaf lotus leaves and containing large palmettes, each palmette flanked with a small blue enamel dot and a smaller band above with repeating smaller palmettes with occasional blue dots. The blue dots appear to mirror didactic vowel markers in use in early manuscript calligraphy (see M. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, London, 1976, pls. 1-9). The underside has a stylised gilt bird decoration. There are few other examples of Islamic 'sandwich glass'. A fragment in the David Collection (S. Carboni and D. Whitehouse, Glass of the Sultans, New York, 2001, pg 221, Inv. no. 4/1987 ), bears decoration of comparable gold leaf winged palmettes with blue enamel dots and a Kufic inscription that dates it to the 10th century. As such, it provides a key to dating other Islamic glass of this type. A repaired cup in the Corning Museum of Glass (Carboni and Whitehouse, op.cit, pg 225, Inv. no. 64.1.32) offers an example of a comparable piece to ours with gilded decoration in similar condition. In addition, there is also a 'sandwich glass' bottle in the British Museum (Carboni and Whitehouse, op.cit, pg 223, Inv. no. 1978,1011.2) with a very similar decorative arrangement with stylised enamelled gold palmettes interspersed with blue enamel dots. The bottom of that vessel also displays a comparable stylised bird motif. The shape of this bottle would indicate that it comes from the early Islamic period of the 9-10th Century AD. Due to the similarity of decorative technique and of motifs used, it is probable that the bottle in the British Museum and our beaker originated from either the same or closely related workshops. This beaker is an almost unique example of a near complete Islamic 'sandwich glass' vessel with remarkable gold leaf and enamel decorative sophistication.
The glass beaker is decorated with an arcade formed of gold leaf lotus leaves and containing large palmettes, each palmette flanked with a small blue enamel dot and a smaller band above with repeating smaller palmettes with occasional blue dots. The blue dots appear to mirror didactic vowel markers in use in early manuscript calligraphy (see M. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, London, 1976, pls. 1-9). The underside has a stylised gilt bird decoration. There are few other examples of Islamic 'sandwich glass'. A fragment in the David Collection (S. Carboni and D. Whitehouse, Glass of the Sultans, New York, 2001, pg 221, Inv. no. 4/1987 ), bears decoration of comparable gold leaf winged palmettes with blue enamel dots and a Kufic inscription that dates it to the 10th century. As such, it provides a key to dating other Islamic glass of this type. A repaired cup in the Corning Museum of Glass (Carboni and Whitehouse, op.cit, pg 225, Inv. no. 64.1.32) offers an example of a comparable piece to ours with gilded decoration in similar condition. In addition, there is also a 'sandwich glass' bottle in the British Museum (Carboni and Whitehouse, op.cit, pg 223, Inv. no. 1978,1011.2) with a very similar decorative arrangement with stylised enamelled gold palmettes interspersed with blue enamel dots. The bottom of that vessel also displays a comparable stylised bird motif. The shape of this bottle would indicate that it comes from the early Islamic period of the 9-10th Century AD. Due to the similarity of decorative technique and of motifs used, it is probable that the bottle in the British Museum and our beaker originated from either the same or closely related workshops. This beaker is an almost unique example of a near complete Islamic 'sandwich glass' vessel with remarkable gold leaf and enamel decorative sophistication.