Enameled and Gilded Glass from Islamic Lands

Artists

o Rulers

Early Period

o Medieval Period

o Later Period

Mosque lamp , ca. 1285;

Mamluk

Egypt (Cairo)

Brownish colorless glass, free-blown, applied, enameled, gilded, and stained; tooled on

the pontil; red, blue, white, green, yellow, and black enamels; gold; and orange-yellow

stain H. 10 3/8 in. (26.2 cm), Max. Diam. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm)

Inscription (in thuluth script, on neck [with bunqud-dar for bunduqdar ] and body): "That

which was made for the tomb of the noble, the elevated, / the c Ala'i, the Keeper of the

Bow, / may Allah sanctify his soul."

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.985)Bottle , late 13th century; Mamluk

Probably Syria

Greenish colorless glass, free-blown, enameled, and gilded; tooled on the pontil; red, blue,

green, yellow, purple, brown, pink, white, gray blue, and black enamels; and gold H. 17 1/8

in. (43.5 cm), Diam. 36 5/8 in. (93 cm)

Rogers Fund, 1941 (41.150)Mosque lamp , ca. 1329–35

Cairo

Free-blown glass, enameled and gilded H. 14 in. (35.56 cm), Diam. 9 3/8 in. (23.89 cm)

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.991)Footed bowl ( tazza ) , mid-13th century

Syria

Yellowish colorless glass, molded, optic blown, applied (foot), enameled, and gilded;

tooled on the pontil; blue, red, white, green, yellow, and black enamels; and gold H. 7 1/4

in. (18.3 cm), Diam. 25 in. (63.6 cm)

Inscription (in naskhi script), apparently reading: "[His/Her] face is like the brilliant shining

moon, / the posture like a tender blooming sprout."

Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891 (91.1.1538) View

Slideshow View Thumbnails Related

Egypt, 1000–1400 A.D.

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The Art of the Ayyubid Period (ca. 1171–1260)

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World, 500–1000 A.D.

Islamic Art in the Early Period

Islamic Art in the Later Period Islamic Art in the Medieval Period

Glass, West Asia

Islamic World

Religious Art, Islam

Enameled and gilded glass is the best known and historically most treasured

type of Islamic glass. The production of such glass was the specialty of the

regions controlled by the Ayyubids and the Mamluks (present-day Egypt and

Syria) in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In this decorative technique,

gold and/or enamels (powdered opaque glass) were applied to a glass surface

using an oil-based medium and a brush or a reed pen. Because gilt and

individual enamel colors have different specific chemical qualities, different

temperatures are required to permanently fix them on glass. Applying colors one

at a time and individually fixing them would subject a vessel to reheating several

times and entail the risk of deforming its shape; thus, it is likely that Mamluk

glassmakers mastered a procedure in which they applied all the colors at once

and fixed them during a single firing in the kiln without having them run into one

another.

The numerous enameled and gilded objects that have survived intact

demonstrate that such vessels were highly prized and probably used for special

occasions. The large number of existing fragments, however, suggests that this

production was not limited to courtly patronage but was also made for

commercial purposes. The painterly surface of these objects and the penchant

of Mamluk artists and patrons for inscribing them make this type of Islamic glass most

informative, helping scholars establish chronologies and attributions.

Enameled and gilded glass developed in the twelfth century in the Syrian area and flourished

during the final decades of Ayyubid power and the first of Mamluk domination in the thirteenth

century. As Cairo became the capital of the empire in the fourteenth century, most enameled

and gilded glass from that time may be attributed to Egyptian, rather than Syrian, workshops.

The late fourteenth century saw a decline in production; by the early fifteenth century,

dwindling patronage eventually caused workshops to close. By the late fifteenth century, the

production of most enameled glass had shifted to Europe—to Venice, in particular. It is likely

that a combination of economic, political, and artistic factors caused the disappearance of

enameled glass in the Islamic world.

Stefano Carboni

Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Qamar Adamjee

Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation

Carboni, Stefano, and Qamar Adamjee. "Enameled and Gilded

Glass from Islamic Lands". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New

York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/enag/hd_enag.htm (October

2002)

Suggested Further Readings

Carboni, Stefano. "The Great Era of Enamelled and Gilded

Glass." In Glass from Islamic Lands: The al-Sabah Collection, pp.

323–69. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001.

Carboni, Stefano, and David Whitehouse. Glass of the Sultans.

New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002.

Ward, Rachel, ed. Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle

East. London: British Museum, 1998.

Related exhibitions and online features

    Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past

exhibitions)

Courtly Radiance: Metalwork from Islamic India

Glass of the Sultans

The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part IV: Figural Representation

Related information by department

Islamic Art: Features and Exhibitions; Collection Database;

Books; Bibliography

These related

Museum Bulletin or

Journal articles may

or may not

represent the most

current scholarship.

Jenkins, Marilyn.

"Islamic Glass: A Brief

History." The

Metropolitan Museum

of Art Bulletin, v. 44,

no. 2 (Autumn, 1986).

JSTOR | PDF |

Supplemental PDFs

Gómez-

Moreno,

Carmen,and

Thomas

Hoving.

"Gold." The

Metropolitan

Museum of Art

Bulletin, v. 31,

no. 2 (Winter,

1972–73).

JSTOR |

PDF

Lukens, Marie

G. "Medieval

Islamic Glass."

The

Metropolitan

Museum of Art

Bulletin, v. 23,

no. 6

(February,

1965). JSTOR

| PDF

Source: Enameled and Gilded Glass from Islamic Lands | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art