A RARE MAMLUK IMITATION GILT AND ENAMELLED GLASS MOSQUE LAMP
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A RARE MAMLUK IMITATION GILT AND ENAMELLED GLASS MOSQUE LAMP

PROBABLY FRANCE, CIRCA 1860

Details
A RARE MAMLUK IMITATION GILT AND ENAMELLED GLASS MOSQUE LAMP
PROBABLY FRANCE, CIRCA 1860
Of typical form with sloping rounded body and flared mouth on short applied base, with six applied hanging loops to sides, the decoration with gilt inscriptions in large thuluth script on blue ground, the shoulders with superposed bands of gilt and blue cusped roundels and stylised floral decoration within medallions on scrolling background, the mouth and underside with large roundels with cursory inscriptions in red enamel, old hanging braided ropes attached, old label to the interior, gilding rubbed in places otherwise intact
13¼in. (34.5cm.) high
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The inscription around the body reads 'Izz li-Mawlana al-Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Nasir al-Dunya wa al-Din Hassan bin Muhammad 'azza nasruhu ("Glory to our Lord the Sultan the King the Victorious Nasir al-Dunya wa al-Din Hassan bin Muhammad may his Victory be Glorious").

Around the neck are inscribed parts of Qur'an XXIV (sura al-nur), v.34.

This lamp bears striking similarities with a lamp in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, including an identical inscription around the body, published by Gaston Wiet in 1912 (Gaston Wiet, Catalogue du Musée Arabe du Caire, Lampes et Bouteilles en Verre Émaillé, Cairo, 1992 ed., pl.LIII, cat.326). In the name of Sultan Hasan, it is dated to 1363. It originally came from the madrasa built by the Sultan in Cairo. In his discussion of the group of lamps from the madrasa, Wiet indicates that some were exhibited in London (cat. 278, 299, 304 and 323). Amongst those, lamp n.323 is inscribed with the name of Sultan Hassan which could therefore have been easily copied by a skilled European glass-maker. Wiet gives an extensive bibliography and the Cairo lamp relating to the present example was published in Herz, Catalogue sommaire des monuments exposés dans le Musée national de l'Art Arabe, Le Caire, 1895, 1st edition, p.86, n.74; 2nd edition (Catalogue raisonné), p.320, n.21; Herz, La mosquée du Sultan Hassan, Cairo, 1899, p.12, n.322; Schmoranz, Old Oriental Gilt and Enamelled Glass Vessels, Vienna and London, 1899, p.70, n.74.

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