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Lot Essay
One of the art forms that flourished during the Mamluk period was that of enamelled and gilded glass. Stefano Carboni calls the 13th and 14th centuries ‘the greatest era of enamelled and gilded glass’ in the Islamic world (Glass from Islamic Lands, London, 2001, p.323). As well as adding to the beauty of objects, applying enamel to glass was an impressive technical feat – it required glass makers to heat the vessels sufficiently to vitrify the enamel, but not enough to melt the glass body of the object. Glass mosque lamps enjoyed particular popularity in the 14th century and were important symbols of a Sultan’s piety.
The sultans and amirs of Mamluk Egypt commissioned lamps to illuminate and adorn the mosques and charitable foundations they established. The political instability of the Mamluk state, together with the fact that Mamluks could not inherit positions and wealth, encouraged many to invest in architectural patronage as a means of safeguarding their fortunes and perpetuating their names. Wealth and property placed in trust for a pious foundation (waqf) were protected under religious law from confiscation. These foundations frequently centred on the founder’s tomb and incorporated a range of charitable institutions, including mosques, madrasas, maristans, khanqahs, sabils, and kuttabs. Establishing such complexes involved not only the construction of monumental architecture but also the commissioning of their decoration, architectural fittings, furnishings, and sources of illumination.
Sultan Hasan (r.1347-51 and 1354-61) was among the most prolific architectural patrons of the Mamluk period and appears to have had a particular interest in glass mosque lamps of this type. During his second reign (1354-61), he devoted considerable resources to the construction of his monumental funerary complex at the western foot of the Citadel. Begun in 1356, the complex remained unfinished at the time of his deposition five years later. The vast complex incorporated a mosque, four madrasas, a mausoleum, an orphanage, a hospital, a covered bazaar, a sabil, and a hammam. The ceilings of its extensive interiors would have been illuminated by numerous glass lamps, many of which were likely commissioned specifically for the complex. Approximately fifty lamps associated with Sultan Hasan are known today, although these surviving examples likely represent only a fraction of the substantial corpus originally produced. Examples of complete mosque lamps made for Sultan Hasan include two in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (3223-1900 and 327-1900), one in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC (F1957.19) and three in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (all published in Maria Queiroz Ribeiro and Jessica Hallett, Mamluk Glass in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 1999, pp.116-121, cats.5, 6 and 7 ).
Amongst the mosque lamps known that were commissioned for this building, the upper sections follow a consistent design, with Ayat al-nur usually rendered in blue, and divided by three medallions containing the epigraphic blazon of Sultan Hasan. The inscription is bordered with a frieze in red in which it is possible to make out birds and fish against a floral ground, interrupted by six roundels enclosing a lotus blossom on solid blue ground. The bases of the known examples however, reveal a wide range of compositions, showing a full repertoire of the designs developed by the Mamluk enamel painters – including epigraphy, geometry and floral motifs.
The large fragment offered here forms the top of one of these lamps – which typically had a high neck atop a bulbous body with six suspension handles on the sloping shoulders from which chains would be attached, suspending the lamp to the ceiling. A small glass container for water and oil with a floating wick would have been inserted inside, as described in the verses that decorate the neck (Qur’an XXIV, v.35, ayat al-nur) – ‘God is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. His Light is like this: there is a wick-holder and in it a wick’. This is a well-known passage from the Qur’an, and relates to the manifestation of divine light in Islam. Here, as on all of the mosques of this group, it is interrupted by epigraphic blazons of Sultan Hasan, which would likely also have appeared on the lower part of the lamp. When lit, the lamp would serve as a visual realisation of the Qur’anic metaphor comparing God with Light, but also would illuminate the name of the Sultan and his titles with similar luminosity ((Maria Queiroz Ribeiro and Jessica Hallett, Mamluk Glass in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 1999).
The fine quality of Mamluk glass was a topos in Persian poetry and well-known in East and West. So prestigious was it, that even Sultan al-Salih Salih (r.1351-4), whose reign is roughly contemporaneous with our Mosque Lamp, was a known-glass blower (Robert Irwin, ‘A note on textual sources for the history of glass’, Ward (ed.), Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle East, London, 1988, pp.25-6). Enamelled glass objects were considered rarities and were greatly prized in the Middle Ages – many were given to European potentates in the age of the Crusades by Mamluk ambassadors also took glass objects as far afield as Ming China. Since the 19th century Mamluk glass has had a particular allure for collectors of Islamic art. Stephen Vernoit writes that “around the time of the Exposition Universelle [in Paris] of 1878, Mamluk mosque lamps were, among Europeans, the most sought-after items of Islamic art. They were appreciated for their technical and artistic excellence…Indeed, mosque lamps were increasingly regarded as a symbol of Islam” (Stephen Vernoit, ‘Islamic gilded and enamelled glass in nineteenth century collections’, in Rachel Ward (ed.), Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle East, London, 1998, p.112). The large fragment offered here was formerly in the collection of Tammaro de Marinis (1878-1969). De Marinis was one of the most successful Italian book dealers of the 20th century. Educated in Naples and Florence, he was one of the principle suppliers of books and manuscripts to the famous magnate and collector, J.P. Morgan. It is likely that de Marinis collected the lamp on one of his numerous trips to the Middle East.
Because of their fragility and the complexities associated with making them, enamelled glass objects are very rare. The most recent fine examples to come on the market include a mosque lamp which sold at Bonhams London, 12 November 2024, lot 69 and a footed bowl recently sold at Christie’s, London, 30 April 2026, lot 25, both with restored feet.
The sultans and amirs of Mamluk Egypt commissioned lamps to illuminate and adorn the mosques and charitable foundations they established. The political instability of the Mamluk state, together with the fact that Mamluks could not inherit positions and wealth, encouraged many to invest in architectural patronage as a means of safeguarding their fortunes and perpetuating their names. Wealth and property placed in trust for a pious foundation (waqf) were protected under religious law from confiscation. These foundations frequently centred on the founder’s tomb and incorporated a range of charitable institutions, including mosques, madrasas, maristans, khanqahs, sabils, and kuttabs. Establishing such complexes involved not only the construction of monumental architecture but also the commissioning of their decoration, architectural fittings, furnishings, and sources of illumination.
Sultan Hasan (r.1347-51 and 1354-61) was among the most prolific architectural patrons of the Mamluk period and appears to have had a particular interest in glass mosque lamps of this type. During his second reign (1354-61), he devoted considerable resources to the construction of his monumental funerary complex at the western foot of the Citadel. Begun in 1356, the complex remained unfinished at the time of his deposition five years later. The vast complex incorporated a mosque, four madrasas, a mausoleum, an orphanage, a hospital, a covered bazaar, a sabil, and a hammam. The ceilings of its extensive interiors would have been illuminated by numerous glass lamps, many of which were likely commissioned specifically for the complex. Approximately fifty lamps associated with Sultan Hasan are known today, although these surviving examples likely represent only a fraction of the substantial corpus originally produced. Examples of complete mosque lamps made for Sultan Hasan include two in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (3223-1900 and 327-1900), one in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC (F1957.19) and three in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (all published in Maria Queiroz Ribeiro and Jessica Hallett, Mamluk Glass in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 1999, pp.116-121, cats.5, 6 and 7 ).
Amongst the mosque lamps known that were commissioned for this building, the upper sections follow a consistent design, with Ayat al-nur usually rendered in blue, and divided by three medallions containing the epigraphic blazon of Sultan Hasan. The inscription is bordered with a frieze in red in which it is possible to make out birds and fish against a floral ground, interrupted by six roundels enclosing a lotus blossom on solid blue ground. The bases of the known examples however, reveal a wide range of compositions, showing a full repertoire of the designs developed by the Mamluk enamel painters – including epigraphy, geometry and floral motifs.
The large fragment offered here forms the top of one of these lamps – which typically had a high neck atop a bulbous body with six suspension handles on the sloping shoulders from which chains would be attached, suspending the lamp to the ceiling. A small glass container for water and oil with a floating wick would have been inserted inside, as described in the verses that decorate the neck (Qur’an XXIV, v.35, ayat al-nur) – ‘God is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. His Light is like this: there is a wick-holder and in it a wick’. This is a well-known passage from the Qur’an, and relates to the manifestation of divine light in Islam. Here, as on all of the mosques of this group, it is interrupted by epigraphic blazons of Sultan Hasan, which would likely also have appeared on the lower part of the lamp. When lit, the lamp would serve as a visual realisation of the Qur’anic metaphor comparing God with Light, but also would illuminate the name of the Sultan and his titles with similar luminosity ((Maria Queiroz Ribeiro and Jessica Hallett, Mamluk Glass in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 1999).
The fine quality of Mamluk glass was a topos in Persian poetry and well-known in East and West. So prestigious was it, that even Sultan al-Salih Salih (r.1351-4), whose reign is roughly contemporaneous with our Mosque Lamp, was a known-glass blower (Robert Irwin, ‘A note on textual sources for the history of glass’, Ward (ed.), Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle East, London, 1988, pp.25-6). Enamelled glass objects were considered rarities and were greatly prized in the Middle Ages – many were given to European potentates in the age of the Crusades by Mamluk ambassadors also took glass objects as far afield as Ming China. Since the 19th century Mamluk glass has had a particular allure for collectors of Islamic art. Stephen Vernoit writes that “around the time of the Exposition Universelle [in Paris] of 1878, Mamluk mosque lamps were, among Europeans, the most sought-after items of Islamic art. They were appreciated for their technical and artistic excellence…Indeed, mosque lamps were increasingly regarded as a symbol of Islam” (Stephen Vernoit, ‘Islamic gilded and enamelled glass in nineteenth century collections’, in Rachel Ward (ed.), Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle East, London, 1998, p.112). The large fragment offered here was formerly in the collection of Tammaro de Marinis (1878-1969). De Marinis was one of the most successful Italian book dealers of the 20th century. Educated in Naples and Florence, he was one of the principle suppliers of books and manuscripts to the famous magnate and collector, J.P. Morgan. It is likely that de Marinis collected the lamp on one of his numerous trips to the Middle East.
Because of their fragility and the complexities associated with making them, enamelled glass objects are very rare. The most recent fine examples to come on the market include a mosque lamp which sold at Bonhams London, 12 November 2024, lot 69 and a footed bowl recently sold at Christie’s, London, 30 April 2026, lot 25, both with restored feet.