Images(11)

candlestick

Object NameCandlestick

Made FromGlass, Gilding, Enamel

Dateabout 1340-1365

TechniqueBlown, applied, gilded, enameled

SizeOverall H: 22.2 cm, Diam (max): 20.4 cm

Accession Number90.1.1

Credit LinePurchased with donated funds from the Clara S. Peck Endowment Fund

Curatorial Area(s)

Early Modern

Exhibitions

Glass of the Sultans

The Unity of Islamic Art

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Only two enameled and gilded glass candlesticks from the Islamic world are known. Here is one of them. The shape derives from Islamic metalwork. (Bronze candlesticks are relatively common.) The polychrome enamels and the gilding cover so much of the surface that the underlying honey-colored glass is barely visible. The main geometric pattern, consisting of elongated hexagons and five-pointed stars, was widely used in Mamluk art of the late 14th and 15th centuries. The inscription is translated, “Glory to our lord, the sovereign, the learned, the just, the holy warrior, the defender, the protector of the frontiers, the fortified [by Allah], the triumphant, the victorious.” There is no doubt that this object was dedicated to a Mamluk sultan, but scholars are not sure which one.

Place Made

probably Egypt

Physical DescriptionCandlestick. Almost colorless, with yellowish tinge. Blown from two gathers, applied, gilded, enameled in red, blue, white, and light green. Candlestick with cylindrical candle holder on truncated conical base. Candle holder: plain, rounded rim and vertical wall with tubular cordon at about two-thirds of its height. Base: hollow; top slightly sunken, with pinched-out ridge at junction with wall; straight, flaring side that splays below pronounced tubular cordon near bottom; rounded lower rim; large pontil scar on underside of top. Richly decorated with four zones of gilded and multicolored enamel decoration and one band of gilded inscription that together cover almost whole of outside: (1) on lower part of candle holder, band of three interlaced scrolled arabesques; (2) on top of base, “Syrian ribbon” design of two identical quadripartite lobed panels, interlaced and with gold trefoils in the interstices; (3) occupying upper two-thirds of side of base, nine repeats of overall pattern of large eight-pointed interlaced stars with same motifs halved above and below, and with octagonal fields between them filled with coiled rosettes and remaining spaces filled with five-pointed stars; panels forming arms of eight-pointed stars are filled with leaf motifs; (4) above cordon, gilded Arabic inscription in thuluth characters; (5) below cordon, running leaf scroll.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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