Bottle bearing the arms of Tuquztimur

This bottle, with its high base, has a flattened globular body and a long neck, and a collar on its upper section. Made in transparent glass, its entire surface is decorated with blue, red, green, and white enamels, and gold. The decorations are organized in rows above one another. A large epigraphic band on the body designates the craftsman as ‘the glass-maker of al-Nāsir[1]’, and gives the name of the patron, ‘al-Malik al-Kāmil’. There are three coats of arms in the medallions that intersect the inscription, and there is a phoenix with its wings spread at the base of the neck. 

Several Oriental and Egyptian examples attest to the use of glass since high antiquity. In the first century BC, the technique of glass-blowing, which enabled glass-makers to produce higher and more regular pieces, was perfected in Phoenician Syria. The process spread rapidly in the Mediterranean countries, and was also used in pre-Islamic, Parthian, and Sassanid Iran. After the Muslim conquest, glass-blowing continued to be used extensively; opaque or transparent, it was used to make all sorts of vessels—goblets, bottles, and ewers—and containers for perfume and cups. Syria remained an important centre of production: during the thirteenth century, a particular type of decorative process flourished there—enamelled and gilded glass. Widely used up until the beginning of the fifteenth century by the Mamluk glass-makers, the technique was adopted by the Venetian craftsmen established since 1291 at Murano. They produced works that were often imitations of Muslim works, and which they exported in large quantities (from the fifteenth century) to the Syro-Egyptian world and Ottoman Anatolia. In the nineteenth century, the technique came back into fashion with the Orientalist movement.

The bottle’s shape with a high neck is an ancient one: it can already be seen on ninth-century paintings in Samarra (Iraq). These objects take a variety of forms, depending on the shape of the body or the presence of a base. The profile of the Louvre example identifies it as part of a series of ten or so. The earliest known example was made in around 1260 for a king of Damascus and Aleppo[2], but a similar object is represented in a Syrian painting from 1222[3]. The large size of the bottle of Tuquztimur distinguishes it from the rest of the group: only two others are of the same height[4]. This type of bottle was popular up until the middle of the fourteenth century. Spanish examples more or less imitated this shape, and generally, high-necked bottles spread throughout Europe, from Venice[5] to Flanders[6]; in the nineteenth century[7]; and in the fifteenth century, a number of Orientalists copied this model.

The bold inscription is in thuluth script, a large and elegant script that is typical of the Mamluk period, found on objects and monuments. The inscription is broken by three blazoned medallions. There is a cup on a red ground topped with an eagle (the cup bearer’s emblem), probably a reference to the sultan’s arms[8]. These arms are also present on a copper alloy basin[9], an unglazed terracotta gourd[10] and two mosque lamps[11], associated with the emir Tuquztimur. Cup bearer of Ibn Qalāʾūn, he was viceroy of Syria between 1342 and 1345, after governing the towns of Hama and Alep. His pointed shield—and not round as was customary in Egypt—may be a reference to European coats of arms, which traditionally used this type of shield.

The phoenix originates from China. From the second half of the thirteenth century, this bird with its long, colourful tail influenced the Iranian simurgh (mythical winged creature). The motif then developed in the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, through contacts with Iran, encouraged by the pax mongolica: it can also be found on Mamluk[12] and Ottoman works[13]. The mythical bird recently appeared in the film Azur et Asmar (Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest), by Michel Ocelot.

[2] Bottle from Egypt or Syria (around 1260), enamelled and gilded glass, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 4261.

[3] Maqāmāt, by al-Hariri, Syria, 1222, painted manuscript, the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), Arab 6094, fol. 75 v.

[4] Bottle from Egypt, first half of the fourteenth century, enamelled and gilded glass, height 50.2cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), 1936 36.33; Bottle made for the sultan of Yemen, al-Malik al-Mujahid Saif al-Din, Syria, mid fourteenth century, enamelled and gilded glass, Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, 34.20.

[5] Bottle, Venice, end of fifteenth century, marbled glass, VictoriaAlbert Museum (London), 5301–1901.  and

[6] Madonna and Child (Lucca Madonna or Suckling Madonna), Jan Van Eyck, oil on canvass, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie in Frankfurt am Main.

[7] Bottle, attributed to Philippe-Jospeh Brocard, Paris, 1870–1880, height 50.9cm, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, 1998.396

[8] Pointed shield with animals’ heads and a silver eagle with the same type of cup.

[9] Basin, Syria or Egypt, around 1340, brass inlaid with copper and silver, Museum of Islamic Art (Cairo), 15038.

[10] National Museum, Damascus, A 1557.

[11] Mosque lamps, Egypt or Syria, around 1345, enamelled and gilded glass, the British Museum (London), OA 69.6-24.1 and OA 69.6-24.2

[12] Bottle, probably from Syria (end of the thirteenth century), enamelled and gilded glass, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, 1941 41.150.

[13] Simurgh and lion, Turkey, mid sixteenth century, ink drawing, Library of Topkapi Sarayi müzesi in Istanbul, H. 2169, fol. 37r.