Mosque lamp

Since high antiquity, light played an important role in various religious and philosophical beliefs, which explains the importance attached to lighting religious buildings. Several Jewish festivals require the use of chandeliers, and it is customary to let a lamp burn continually (ner tamid) in the synagogue, to commemorate the menorah of the temple of Jerusalem. In the Gospels, Christ is sometimes called ‘the Light of the world’ (Jn. 8:12), and a lamp indicates the presence of the consecrated host in the monstrance, which itself often had a radiating shape. Since the twelfth century, Gothic architecture (theorized by Abbot Suger) focused on light, which was supposed to elevate the soul towards God. For the Muslims, ‘God is Light’, as proclaimed in a Sura (chapter) of the Qur’an (Qur’an 24:35), which was often inscribed on mosque lamps. 

Metal was often used for lighting devices. With its plateau of nineteen oil jars, the lamp in the Cairo Museum is part of a group of polycandelon, crowns of light supporting several glass jars with wicks that stand in oil. They were invented in the Roman-Byzantine world[1], and became extremely popular in Islamic art, particularly in the Maghrib and Spain[2], and under the Mamlūks they became great hexagonal pyramids, like this lamp. This form was then taken up by Ottoman artists[3]. 

The sides of the lamp have a tripartite decoration; two bands of inscriptions frame a wide register that is entirely in openwork. The piercing of the metal was a common practice in Islamic metalworking, and was used to facilitate the transmission of light or smells from incense burners. However, openwork could also be applied for purely decorative reasons[4]. On each of the six sides of the lamp, the central area is arranged around a medallion, to which two pendants are attached. This layout is reminiscent of certain Mamluk manuscripts, like that on the Qur’an of Sultan Barqūq[5]. The same layout is found in other geographical areas and in other media, in particular in Iran, and in some Ottoman works[6].

The patron of this work is well known: he was one of the last Mamlūk sultans, al-Ashraf Sayf al-Dīn Qā’it Bay (reigned 1468–1496). Not only do the six epigraphic bands cite his name, attributing him with a number of qualities, but also the calligraphy itself is characteristic of his reign. Certain phrases are written in thuluth, a style of writing with prolonged letters frequently used by the Mamlūks. But, in the two longest inscriptions, the upper part of the letters cross, forming small crochets from which emerges a lotus flower. This type of writing was used on many related objects from the reign of Qā’it Bay, in particular on several chandeliers[7]. 

Like the latter, in the middle of each of the lamp’s medallions is a round, tripartite, and epigraphic blazon: that of the Sultan, whose name reads from the bottom to the top. Dividing the area into three parts was a recurrent element in Mamlūk heraldry, and was introduced relatively early in the dynasty. The use of calligraphy, however, was introduced later, and was reserved for the Sultan. European heraldry rarely used words as decorative elements, but in Islam, the status of writing, which was widely used in all the arts, conferred an emblematic importance on calligraphy.

[2] Chandelier of Madinat Elvira, the Archaeological Museum, Granada, Spain.

[3] Mosque lamp with oil jars from the Bayazid Camii of Istanbul, Türke ve Islām Eserleri Müezi, Istanbul, No. 170.

[4] Fragment of chandelier, the Dar Batha Museum of Arts and Traditions, Fez, No. 82.4.4.

[5] Bookbinding, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Arab MS 5845.

[6] Carpet with medallion, Türk ve Isla m Eserleri Müzesi, Istanbul, Inventory number 36.

[7] Chandelier, the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, No. 4072; chandelier drum, the Louvre Museum, Paris, OA 3780.