Product Code Database
Fine mosque lamps are that typically have a large round body and a narrower neck that flares towards the top. They were often made with internal containers to be filled with oil and a wick to produce light. They were usually made of enamelled glass, often with gilding. Some were also made in Islamic pottery, though this was much less efficient for actual lighting. These lamps were normally hung by a circular metal frame and suspended by chains that went through a number of loops on the outside of the body. The circular frames continue to be used in many mosques today, but with plain or frosted glass lamps for electric lighting.
The Ottoman Empire also made lamps of similar form in Iznik pottery, and Shah Abbas I of Persia gave plain silver lamps to hang by the tomb of Shaykh Safi at Ardabil; Persian miniatures show other examples from the 16th century in gold or brass and silver. Such opaque materials were much less effective as lighting, but the purpose of the lamp was symbolic as well as practical, related to the "Verse of Light". Lamp for the Ottoman restoration of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, British Museum; Canby, 85, 180; Perry Mosque lamps are often shown in profile at the head of a prayer rug for the same reason.Perry The decoration of the lamps often includes either the name or the symbol from Islamic heraldry of the donor, who usually gave a group of lamps.See for example Jones & Mitchell, 143-144 Other types of lighting in mosques were large metal lamp stands, like very wide candlesticks, which were also used in secular buildings. These could be very intricately decorated.Canby, 85
The elaborate decorated types were mostly succeeded by plain glass oil lamps with a simple rim at the top, by which they were attached to (typically) a circular metal bar. Often these hang in tiers. Mosques today typically retain the hanging circular fittings, but use electric lights and glass shades of various sorts, not essentially different from other glass used in lighting other buildings.
Qur'an 24:35: Online Qur'an Project At times mosque lamps were used in rituals during Ramadan. In one such ritual, the flame of the lamp would be extinguished to signal to people that prayer was about to start. In big mosques it was common to see thousands of lamps being used to illuminate the space.
A miniature in the Sister Hagaddah, produced in 14th-century Spain and now in the British Library, showing a service in a synagogue has lamps with the same form as Islamic ones.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> The Light of Allah'', Times Educational Supplement, 17 January 2003
|
|
