Pair of Mosque lamps

Egypt, Mamuk dynasty, about 1350-5
Glass, enamelled and gilded
H35 cm
Slade Bequest; Godman Bequest
S.333(OA+521); 1983.497

namelled and gilded glass lamps, hung from chains were commissioned in large numbers for the many mosques built in Cairo by the Mamluk Sultans and their Amirs. They provided light by means of a wick placed in a container of oil within the lamp. Many, including these examples, are inscribed with verses from the Qur'an (24:35) highlighting the symbolic nature of the lamp.

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth;
the likeness of His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp
(the lamp in a glass,
the glass as it were a glittering star)
kindled from a Blessed Tree,
an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West
whose oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire touched it

The lamps are also decorated with a bold inscription frieze containing the name and titles of Sayf al-Din Shaykhu al-Nasiri, an important patron of art and architecture in Cairo. His heraldic device incorporating a red cup appears in the centre of the roundels on the neck and the underside of the lamp.