A Mamluk enamelled glass mosque lamp made for Sayf ad-Din Sarghitmish ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri (d. 1358)

Egypt or Syria, 1351-1358 AD

Footnotes

Provenance
Collection of Charles Henri Auguste Schefer (1820-1898), Paris, until 1898.
Maurice Stora (1879-1950), Paris.
M.K. Ispénian, until 1906.
Collection of Boghos Nubar Pasha (1851-1930), Paris, acquired from M.K. Ispénian in 1906.
Collection of Arakel Nubar Pasha (1881-1954), Geneva, from 1930.
Private Swiss Collection, Geneva, by descent from Boghos Nubar Pasha.

Published
A. Jacquemart, 'Exposition de l'Union Central des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'Industrie, Musée Oriental (Musée Guimet)', Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol II, Paris, 1869, p. 340.
H. Lavoix, 'Le Galerie Orientale du Trocadéro', Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol XVII, Paris, 1878, p. 780.
M. Van Berchem, 'Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, Première Partie, Inscriptions de l'Égypte', Mémoires publiés par les membres de la Mission Archéologique Française au Caire Tome XIX, Paris, 1894, p. 241.
Hotel Drouot, Catalogue des Objets d'Art et de Curiosité [...] Composant la Collection de M Ch. Schefer, Paris, 8-11 June 1898, p. 24, lot 167.
H. Cordier, 'La Collection Schefer', Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol XX, Paris, 1898, p. 254.
G. Migeon, M. Van Berchem and M. Huart 1903, Exposition des Arts Musulmans, Catalogue Descriptif, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, 1903, p. 22, cat. no. 652.
Y. Artin Pacha, 'Lampe en verre émaillé portant armoire appartenant à S. E. Boghos Pacha Nubar', Bulletin de l'institut Égyptien, Vol. I, Cairo, 1907 (illustrated Plate I).
G. Wiet, Catalogue General du Musée Arabe du Caire, Lampes et Bouteilles en verre émaillé, Cairo, 1929, p. 167, cat. no. 69.
C. J. Lamm, Mittelalterliche Gläser und Steinschnittarbeiten aus dem Nahen Osten, Berlin 1929-1930, p. 453, no. 102 (illustrated Plate 193. 1.)
L. A. Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933, p. 209, no. 1.

Exhibited
Exposition de l'Union Central des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'Industrie, Musée Oriental (Musée Guimet), 1869.
Palais De Trocadero, La Galérie Orientale du Trocadero, Paris, 1878.
Exposition des Arts Musulmans, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, 1903.

Inscriptions:

to the neck, Qur'an, Chapter XXIV (al-nur), verse 35, 'Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. His light is like a niche in which there is a lamp';

to the body, al-maqarr al-karim al-'ali al-mawlawi al-maliki al-makhdumi al-sayfi sirghitmish ra's nuba al-maliki al-nasiri, 'His Honourable and High Excellency our Lord, the Royal, the Well-Served, Saif ad-din Sarghitmish, Chief of Corps of Mamluks of al-Malik an-Nasr'.

This lot is accompanied by a scientific report by Dr. Julian Henderson analysing the composition of the enamels and glass and finding them to be consistent with a Mamluk date of production.

Introduction

Enamelled glass lamps produced in the territories ruled by the Mamluks are considered some of the most celebrated and sought after objects from the Islamic world. This exquisite glasswork was primarily produced during the 13th and 14th centuries and the intricate decorative process involved applying gold and enamels made from powdered opaque glass to the lamp surface with an oil-based medium, utilizing a brush or a reed pen.

The Sarghitmish lamp is one of the largest, most extensively published, and widely exhibited examples of its kind ever to come to market. The lamp boasts impeccable provenance, having remained in the continuous ownership of the family of Egypt's first Prime Minister, Nubar Pasha, since 1906. Its extensive exhibition history includes displays in three of Paris's major museums in the 19th century: the Musée Guimet in 1869, the Palais du Trocadéro in 1878 and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre in 1903. The lamp is featured in at least ten major publications dating back to 1869 including being illustrated as early as 1907 in the Bulletin de l'institut Égyptien, where it is the subject of extensive commentary by the prominent Egyptian Armenian scholar Yacoub Artin Pacha.

Mosque lamps are considered some of the most technically accomplished examples of medieval glassware anywhere in the world. The technique of simultaneously gilding and enamelling glass was almost unique to the Mamluk court and much more advanced than cruder European counterparts. Applying gilding and enamel of different colours is considered an extremely sophisticated technique because different colours and pigments have different fixing temperatures. Mamluk glass makers came up with a special technique whereby they could apply multiple colours in a single firing in the kiln. This technique would eventually come to Europe via Venice in the 15th Century

Sarghitmish and the production of the lamp

Sayf ad-Din Sarghitmish ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri was a Mamluk emir who rose to prominence during the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Hasan (r. 1347-1351, 1354-1361). He, along with the Emir Shaykhu al-Umari an-Nasri, had helped to restore the latter to the throne in 1355, and as a result held significant sway over the reinstated sultan. In 1356 he constructed his own madrasa complex including a mosque and mausoleum in the southern part of medieval Cairo. It can therefore be assumed that the present lot was made to hang in the madrasa, which would place the likely date of production somewhere between 1356 and 1358, though according to L. A. Mayer, Sarghitmish became Chief of Corps in 1351, so without further evidence the possible window of production must extend to between 1351 and his death in 1358.

The lamp is inscribed with the first lines of the Qur'anic Verse of Light, a reminder that Mosque lamps served a symbolic function as a physical manifestation of the light of Allah, and that their production was considered an important act of religious patronage by wealthy and powerful figures. The inscription to the lower body of the lamp lists the emir's lengthy titles, and can be seen as a bold display of his piety, but more importantly his political power. The blazon, a red square, or napkin (buqja), on a white ground is repeated six times and identifies him as Master of the Robes (jamdar).

The same blazon appears on three enamelled glass lamp 'eggs' in the Coptic Museum and National Museum of Arab Art in Cairo. Two bear the name of Sarghitmish, though with slightly abbreviated honorifics to those which appear on the present lot. It is likely that they were produced at the same time as the lamp, and the reduced inscription can be explained by the smaller size of the objects. According to Mayer, one was found in the Madrasa of Sarghitmish, and is illustrated in his book (L. A. Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933, Pl. XXXI. 2). No other mosque lamps bearing the name Sarghitmish are recorded. When emir Shaykhu was killed by dissident mamluks in 1357, Sarghitmish's authority was strengthened and Sultan al-Nasir Hasan began to see him as a threat. In 1358 he had him arrested and jailed in Alexandria, where he died later that year.

The Story of the Lamp's later Ownership

Charles-Henri-Auguste Schefer (1820-1898)

The earliest recorded owner of the lamp in recent times is the French diplomat, scholar and collector Charles-Henri-Auguste Schefer. He grew up in Paris and studied Arabic, Turkish and Persian. In his capacity as translator for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1843 and 1857 he was stationed in various cities in Egypt and the Ottoman Empire including Beirut, Jerusalem, Izmir, Alexandria and Istanbul. On his return to Paris in 1857, he was appointed Professor of Persian at the Ecole des Langues Orientales and became its President from 1867 until his death. The French Government recognised his services with several high decorations and he was made a Commander of the Légion d'Honneur in 1862. He is best known today as an important collector of Islamic Manuscripts, though his collection, displayed at his home on Avenue Ingres de Passy, also encompassed works of art from North Africa, The Middle East, China and Japan. Schefer donated a selection of objects to the British Museum in London between 1866 and 1878. Other important museums which now hold works from his collection include the Metropolitan Museum and The Gulbenkian Collection.

We know that much of Schefer's collection was amassed during his travels as a diplomat, both as gifts from local academics with shared interests, or as personal acquisitions. The Journalist Henri Lavoix, in the opening to his review of the 1878 exhibition of Islamic art at the La Galérie Orientale du Trocadero, to which Schefer loaned the present lot, writes of the latter using his 'research' and 'established knowledge' to obtain the finest examples of 'glassware' and 'ceramics' on a trip to Syria approximately 20 years earlier ('Le Galerie Orientale du Trocadéro', Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol XVII, Paris, 1878,p. 769). It is highly probable that the Sarghitmish Lamp was acquired on one such voyage to Syria, or elsewhere on Schefer's travels to North Africa and the Middle East, between 1843 and 1857. It was certainly in his possession by 1869 when it was exhibited at the Musée Oriental, now the Musée Guimet, in his name.

Figures like Schefer can be seen as pioneers, seeking out and acquiring important Islamic Art at a time when institutions in France were only beginning to consider developing their collections. It is perhaps telling that they were looked upon to provide the material for temporary exhibitions in the absence of comprehensive state-sponsored collections of Islamic Art. Following his death in 1897, Schefer's impressive collection, including the lamp, was sold at the Parisian auction house, Hôtel Drouot. The French scholar Henri Cordier (1849-1925) lamented the sale writing:

One must deplore the dispersal of such a collection: the Orient is poorly represented in France, not only in private galleries but also in state museums; and that despite the fact we are a great Muslim power. The Louvre has plainly shown its dearth through its embryonic oriental rooms. The museums founded by Cernuschi and Mr. Guimet are devoted to China and Japan; who will give us their equal for the treasures of Syria, Egypt, and Maghrib.

('La Collection Schefer', Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol XX, Paris, 1898, p. 258)

Interestingly, in the same article, Cordier notes that the foot has been restored, which implies that the present foot was commissioned by Schefer (p. 254).


Maurice Stora (1879-1950)

Following the 1898 auction at Drouot, the next appearance of the Sarghitmish lamp is in the catalogue of the exhibition of Islamic Art held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Louvre in 1903, where it is listed as having been lent by 'M. Stora'. Maurice Stora was an art and antiques dealer who owned a shop with this brother Raphaël Stora (1887-1963) at 32-bis, Boulevard Haussmann. Though we have not found a record, it is likely that the Storas were the buyers at Drouot, where the lamp sold for 4,000 Francs, according to a hand written note in the copy of the sale catalogue held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Boghos Nubar Pasha (1851-1930)

The next recorded owner of the lamp is Boghos Nubar Pasha, the son of the first Prime Minister of Egypt, Nubar Pasha (1825-1899). He was born in Istanbul, educated in Egypt and France, and became Chairman of the Armenian National Delegation and co founder and President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union between 1906 and 1928. He is recorded as having acquired the lamp in 1906 from M.K. Ispénian, an antiques dealer with premises in Istanbul and Cairo (Y. Artin Pacha, 'Lampe en verre émaillé portant armoire appartenant à S. E. Boghos Pacha Nubar', Bulletin de l'institut Égyptien, Vol. I, Cairo, 1907, p. 159). Boghos Nubar Pasha retired in 1921 and died in Paris in 1930. The lamp was passed to his son, Arakel Nubar Pasha (1881-1954), and remains a possession of the family to this day.

Important Notice to Buyers
Some countries, e.g., the US, prohibit or restrict the purchase by its citizens (wherever located) and/or the import of certain types of works of particular origins. As a convenience to buyers, Bonhams has marked with the symbol R all lots of Iranian (Persian) and Syrian origin. It is each buyer's responsibility to ensure that they do not bid on or import a lot in contravention of the sanctions or trade embargoes that apply to them.