Hanging Lamp

Hanging Lamp or Lantern

The profile of this hanging lamp or lantern is typical of the first centuries of Islam, before it took its final elegant shape under the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria in the 14th century. The lamps produced before the 13th century are rather small in size (their height usually does not exceed 15 cm) and their profile is somewhat squat, presenting a subglobular body, a shortish flaring neck, and a very low foot. The rings for suspension are six as a rule and, since they are attached to the body of the lamp by means of large drop-shaped medallions, they become a dominant feature of the vessel. Sometimes these vessels can be described as true lamps, since they present a glass tube in the interior—attached to the bottom—where the wick was inserted and let float in the oil in order to be lit. When these vessels grew in size, however, they became lanterns because the tube was replaced by a small bowl filled with oil that was suspended inside the larger container by means of wires hooked to the rim of the lantern. In the present case, the lamp entered the collection with an outsized tube glued to its bottom that did not belong to the original vessel but was once the neck of the bottle. This type of lamp was almost certainly employed originally as an object for everyday use in secular buildings although it then became standard to light up religious buildings; for this reason it is often called "mosque-lamp" in the literature. Its shape is also often represented in frescoes and paintings illustrating religious buildings in Medieval Europe.

Stefano Carboni in [Walker et al. 1994]

[ Nasli M. Heeramaneck, New York, until 1964; sold to MMA]

Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 66.

Swietochowski, Marie. "Medieval Islamic Glass." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 23 (February 1965). p. 201, ill. fig. 6 (b/w).

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn. "Islamic Glass: A Brief History." MMA Bulletin vol. 44, no. 2 (Fall 1986). p. 34, ill. fig. 40 (b/w).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahli, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 66, pp. 176–77, ill. (b/w).