Fritware mosque lamp, painted in blue and turquoise under a transparent glaze
Turkey, Iznik; 3rd quarter of 16th century
H: 35; Diam: 27 cm
The shape reflects that of glass mosque lamps with enamel decoration made in Egypt and Syria in the 13th-14th century. In contrast to those transparent lamps, this one was not intended to give light, and its irregularly placed handles on the sides cannot have been used to hang it. The lamp was a decorative piece for a religious building, where it was placed in a niche or against a wall. The decoration consists of quite delicate tendrils holding disproportionately large flowers and elegantly curved saz leaves.
This form of decoration was developed in the court workshops in Istanbul in the 1530s-1540s and was soon used on many different types of materials.
Inv. no. 18/1967
Published in:
André Leth: Davids Samling. Islamisk kunst = The David Collection. Islamic Art, København 1975, pp. 99-100;
Art from the World of Islam. 8th-18th century, Louisiana, Humlebæk 1987, cat.no. 198;
Soliman le Magnifique:15 fevrier au 14 mai 1990, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris 1990, cat.no. 119;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no.183;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 390;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 258;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 91;
Kjeld von Folsach: Flora islamica: plantemotiver i islamisk kunst, Davids Samling, København 2013, cat.no. 47;
