Publication Date
Beginning of the tenth century/beginning of the sixteenth century
Publication Place
-
Museum of Technical Industries
Subject
Fired white quartz paste with patterns on a glazed layer.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 30 سم؛ القطر: 22.8 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
KGM 1900,125
Record ID
object;ISL;de;Mus01;35;ar
Library Location
Museum of Islamic Art
Date
Beginning of the tenth century/beginning of the sixteenth century
Notes
This mosque lamp consists of a relatively short, rounded body with a funnel-shaped upper section. There are three streamlined handles attached to the shoulder of the lamp, which are shaped like a dragon and a snake, and are intended to hang the lamp on chains or threads. These handles are decorated with floral designs, because decorating them with pictures is prohibited in mosques. As for the low, circular base, it has a hole in its middle in which decorative fringes are attached. On the body and neck of the lamp there are decorative patterns on white fields. We also see on the neck four blue knots, overlapping and hanging on top of each other and similar in shape, with spaces decorated with the names of God and Muhammad written on them. The writing is connected to each other by three balls bearing drawings to bring good luck. There are also fields of decorative inscriptions on the upper end. The ring base is decorated with braided scenes. There are bands decorated with flowers and leaves in the decorative fields on the lamp body, as well as on the blue decoration between the lamp body and its neck. The decorations under the handles consist of scenes in the form of braided hoops. Ceramic mosque lamps were made in the Ottoman era until the mid-sixteenth century in the city of Iznik. In previous centuries, mosque lamps were made of glass and produced in many Islamic countries. The decoration of these lamps was based on the writing of verse 35 of Surat An-Nur: “God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His light is like a niche in which is a lamp.” Ottoman ceramics made in Iznik were also sought after throughout Europe, to the point that Italian handicrafts in Padua had been imitating Turkish ceramics since the seventeenth century, because sales by government workshops in Iznik at that time were prohibited to private individuals, and Iznik workshops began to deteriorate from the middle of the seventh century. Ten.
Sample Text
Annette Hagedorn “Mosque Lamp” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;de;Mus01;35;ar
