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Work Record
Class [controlled]:
• decorative arts • ceramics •
Islamic art
*Work
Type [link]: •
mosque lamp
*Title: Mosque
Lamp
*Creator
Display: unknown Syrian or Egyptian
*Role
[link]: artist [link]:
unknown Syrian
*Role
[link]: artist [link]:
unknown Egyptian
*Creation
Date: ca. 1285 (Mamluk period) [controlled]: •
Earliest: 1280 • Latest:
1290
*Subject
[links]: •
object (utilitarian) • lamp •
light • mosque furnishings •
crossbows
Style [link]:
• Mamluk
Culture [link]:
• Syrian • Egyptian •
Islamic
*Current
Location [link]: Metropolitan
Museum of Art (New York, New York, United States)
• ID:
17.190.985
*Measurements:
26.4 x 21 cm (10 3/8 x 8 ¼ inches)
[controlled]: •
Value: 26.4 Unit:
cm Type: height
| • Value: 21
Unit: cm
Type: width
*Materials
and Techniques: free-blown glass,
enameled and gilded; tooled on the pontil
Material [links]: •
enamel • glass • gold Technique
[links]: • tooling • free-blown
glass
Inscriptions:
In Arabic, on neck and body: "This is one of the
objects made for the mausoleum of His High Excellency
Ala' al-din the arquebusier, may God sanctify
his soul." (L. A. Mayer, trans.)
Description: The
two gold crossbows addorsed against a red shield
indicate that the patron of this lamp held the
office of "bunduqdar" (Keeper of the Bow) under
the Mamluk rule (1250-1517). The inscription states
that the lamp was ordered for the mausoleum of
"his excellency the bowkeeper of `Ala al-Din,"
thus identifying him with Aydakin ibn `Abd-Allah,
who died in Cairo in 1285. Aydakin, who held various
offices under the Mamluks (after 1250), maintained
the emblem and "nisba" (form to express relationship
with one's master) of his first appointment under
the Ayyubid emir `Ala al-Din Aqsunqur until the
end of his life. This lamp is a metaphor. In the
Koran, God's light is likened to "a niche in which
is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, and the glass
is as if it were a brightly shining star."
Description Source
[link]: Metropolitan Museum of Art online.
www.metmuseum.org
(accessed 29 June 2007)
Required and recommended elements
are marked with an asterisk.
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