A MAMLUK REVIVAL SILVER AND COPPER OVERLAID HANGING MOSQUE LAMP...
A MAMLUK REVIVAL SILVER AND COPPER OVERLAID HANGING MOSQUE LAMP
Damascus, Syria, c. 1920s
Of typical form, with a globular body and truncated neck with an everted rim, the surface decorated with pierced openwork featuring interlaced silver and copper damascened Western-style arabesques against a knotted ground, the neck is further embellished with a bold Arabic inscription in thuluth script reading: 'القناعة كنز لا يفنى - Ghanaa'at kanz laa yafna - contentment is an inexhaustible treasure'.
Overall height with suspension 69.5cm x 15cm
The Mamluk Revival style originated in the architecture of Cairo in the 1870s but quickly spread to portable media. Vernoit (1997) notes that Cairoware-style objects were produced in various centres across North Africa and the Middle East. While Cairene specimens tend to be more faithful to original Mamluk metalwork, their counterparts from Damascus are more freely interpreted, evoking Mamluk prototypes in their overall appearance rather than in specific details.
For similar examples:
Qamus Al-Sinat Al-Shamiyya (Dictionary of Damascene Crafts) and its international reviews, among which the most notable one is Metalworking in Damascus at the end of the Ottoman period: an analysis of the Qamus al-Sinat al-Shamiyya. in, Porter, V. and Rosser-Owen, M. (eds) Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World: Art, Crafts and Text, Essays presented to James W. Allan. 2012, London, I.B. Tauris, pp. 265-280.
Literature:
Vernoit, S., Occidentalism. Islamic Art in the 19th Century. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art 23, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press and Azimuth Editions, 1997.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
A MAMLUK REVIVAL SILVER AND COPPER OVERLAID HANGING MOSQUE LAMP
Damascus, Syria, c. 1920s
Of typical form, with a globular body and truncated neck with an everted rim, the surface decorated with pierced openwork featuring interlaced silver and copper damascened Western-style arabesques against a knotted ground, the neck is further embellished with a bold Arabic inscription in thuluth script reading: 'القناعة كنز لا يفنى - Ghanaa'at kanz laa yafna - contentment is an inexhaustible treasure'.
Overall height with suspension 69.5cm x 15cm
The Mamluk Revival style originated in the architecture of Cairo in the 1870s but quickly spread to portable media. Vernoit (1997) notes that Cairoware-style objects were produced in various centres across North Africa and the Middle East. While Cairene specimens tend to be more faithful to original Mamluk metalwork, their counterparts from Damascus are more freely interpreted, evoking Mamluk prototypes in their overall appearance rather than in specific details.
For similar examples:
Qamus Al-Sinat Al-Shamiyya (Dictionary of Damascene Crafts) and its international reviews, among which the most notable one is Metalworking in Damascus at the end of the Ottoman period: an analysis of the Qamus al-Sinat al-Shamiyya. in, Porter, V. and Rosser-Owen, M. (eds) Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World: Art, Crafts and Text, Essays presented to James W. Allan. 2012, London, I.B. Tauris, pp. 265-280.
Literature:
Vernoit, S., Occidentalism. Islamic Art in the 19th Century. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art 23, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press and Azimuth Editions, 1997.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
