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Lot Essay
Inscription: Around the body, al-maqarr al-'ali al-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri al-'ad[il]i al-mujahidi al-dhakhiri al-maliki al-nasiri, 'The High Authority, the Lordly, the Great Amir, the Just, the Holy Warrior, the Possessor of wealth, the [officer of] al-Malik al-Nasir'. Around the shoulder, al-maqarr al-'ali al-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri al-mujahidi al-murabiti al-muthaghiri al-mu'ayyadi al-maliki al-nasiri, 'The High Authority, the Lordly, the Great Amir, the Holy Warrior, the Defender, the Protector of Frontiers, the One helped [by God], the [Officer of] al-Malik al-Nasir'.
In his note accompanying the catalogue entry for this candlestick in Treasures of Islam, James Allan suggested that sheet metal candlesticks may have been the product of Damascus, which had a flourishing candlestick industry in the 1290s (Treasure of Islam, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1985, no.288, p.278). The dating is based on the title, al-maliki al-nasiri, used on the candlestick which could refer either to Sultan Muhammad ibn Qala'un (1294-1340) or to Sultan Hassan (1347-61). The lattice around the neck, which contains small quatrefoils, appears to be earlier than those on objects associated with the later sultan (Esin Atil, Renaissance of Islam: The Art of the Mamluks, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., 1981, no.30, pp.96-97). It is unlikely however to have been used earlier than the middle of Muhammad ibn Qala'un's reign (Allan, op.cit., p.278).
In his note accompanying the catalogue entry for this candlestick in Treasures of Islam, James Allan suggested that sheet metal candlesticks may have been the product of Damascus, which had a flourishing candlestick industry in the 1290s (Treasure of Islam, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1985, no.288, p.278). The dating is based on the title, al-maliki al-nasiri, used on the candlestick which could refer either to Sultan Muhammad ibn Qala'un (1294-1340) or to Sultan Hassan (1347-61). The lattice around the neck, which contains small quatrefoils, appears to be earlier than those on objects associated with the later sultan (Esin Atil, Renaissance of Islam: The Art of the Mamluks, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., 1981, no.30, pp.96-97). It is unlikely however to have been used earlier than the middle of Muhammad ibn Qala'un's reign (Allan, op.cit., p.278).