Title: Large Mosque Lamp
Date: late 19th century
Location: Paris, France
Materials: yellowish glass with a few bubbles; blown, with lavish enamelled and gilt decoration; applied handles
Dimensions: 43.2 x 27.8cm
Accession Number: GLS 262
Other Notes:
This fine mosque lamp by Philippe-Joseph Brocard is decorated with epigraphic blazons and flower-and-bird and interlace designs. There are two Arabic inscriptions. The first, written in outline, runs around the rim of the lamp and is based on part of the ‘Light Verse’ from the surah al-Nur (XXIV, verse 35): the first three words of this verse form the text in the blazons. The second inscription, outlined in gold and red, runs around the body of the lamp and is reserved against a background of thick blue enamel with gold and red scrolls. Although corrupt, its text was obviously based upon a benedictory inscription on a Mamluk lamp. The inscription is interrupted by the applied handles or suspension loops, each of which is set within an inverted teardrop shape left in reserve. Brocard’s signature is on the flat base, in a decorative surround reminiscent of the sun-burst medallions in Islamic illuminated manuscripts.
Bibliography:
S.M. Goldstein et al, Glass. From Sasanian Antecedents to European Imitations, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume XV, London 2005, cat.343, pp.322–3.
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