A MAMLUK PIERCED BRASS HANGING LAMP, EGYPT, LATE 13TH AND 15TH CENTURY

Christie’s London, 10 October 1989, lot 532.

Of the many spectacular and unique pieces of metalwork created by Mamluk artists in response to the energetic patronage from the Bahri sultans and amirs, some of the most beautiful are the objects designed to accommodate light sources. Artists were able to blend form with function and capitalise on the possibilities for reflection, refraction and filtering effects offered by their medium. Such splendid creations were particularly fitting as ornaments for mosques and shrines, given the comparison in the Qur'an between God and light:

“God is the light of the heavens and the earth. His light may be compared to a niche that enshrines a lamp, the lamp within a crystal of star-like brilliance. It is lit from blessed olive tree neither eastern nor western. Its very oil would almost shine forth though no fire touched it. Light upon light; God guides to his light whom He will.” (Surah al-Nur XXIV:XXXV, as quoted in Behrens-Abouseif 1995, p.3).

Managing to be ostentatious and at the same time delicate in their design, Mamluk lanterns were often of the polycandelon type which held several oil containers. These containers were made of glass and filled with water above which oil floated; the wick was attached to a cork and floated on the surface of the oil. Such lamps were suspended from the ceiling with chains. On the occasion of Ramadan, lamps of the mosques were painted or gilded, and the water within the transparent glass cups was coloured to enhance the decorative effect of the light. Surface decoration is based on the principle of a pattern, often with inscriptions, and incised against a densely pierced metal sheet. The transparent background of the interior of the lamp puts the opaque or solid pattern “in relief” (ibid, p.7).

Whereas some lamps were simply perforated with plain holes, the present work illustrates a rarer, more complex technique which consists of piercing the metal surface with openings that have various shapes following a floral pattern. When the lamp is lit, only the open-work is visible, producing an arabesque of light on the opaque background of the lamp body. The body-shape situates the present piece within a category known as ‘pyramidal lamps’, consisting of a six-faceted truncated pyramid surmounted by a bulbous top, and a hexagonal tray that can be reached by means of arched doors on the sides of the body (ibid, pp.67-68. The top of the lamp – combined from what was originally a different piece – features a repeated eagle blazon with the head turned to the left). The Mamluk amirs Tuquztamur (d.1345) and Bahadur al-Hamawi who served under Sultan Muhammad Qala’un at about the same period both used an eagle blazon (Mayer 1933, p.33), though the proportions of the Kufic script are close to those on Ayyubid metalwork which may mean that the sponsor was an earlier, unknown amir.

Similar pyramidal lamps can be found in the David Collection in Copenhagen (von Folsach 2001, cat. no.515) and the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (Wiet 1984, cat. nos. 383 (inv. no.3083), 638 and 242).