Fifteenth-Century Enameled and Gilded Glass Made for the Mamluks: the End of an Era, the Beginning of a New One

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Fifteenth-Century Enameled and Gilded Glass Made for the Mamluks: the End of an Era, the Beginning of a New One FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENAMELED AND GILDED GLASS MADE FOR THE MAMLUKS: THE END OF AN ERA, THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ONE Stefano CARBONI* The present article deals with fifteenth-century production of enameled and gilded glass in the Mamluk period, a little known aspect of an industry that saw its heyday during the late thirteenth century and the first half of the fourteenth. Usually dismissed as virtually non-existent after the turn of the fifteenth century, the scale and technical and artistic qualities of Mamluk glass unquestionably declined; four surviving mosque lamps, however, help to reconstruct an essential history of the craft in Cairo from the 1410s to the 1470s. These four lamps, which are very similar to the well-known fourteenth-century production in shape, dimensions, and decorative program, include enameled and gilded inscriptions that mention the names of their patrons and can therefore be studied in an appropriate context. Two lamps are dedicated to the Mamluk sultan al-Mu'ayyad Abu Nasr Shaykh (r. 1412-21) and were specifically made for his madrasa (Qur'anic school) built in 1410-15. The third one carries the name of the powerful emir Qani-bay al-Jarkasi (d. 1462), who served in various important positions under the rule of the sultan al-Malik al-Zahir Jaqmaq (r. 1438-53). The last lamp is in the name of the sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Qait-bay (r. 1468-96). While there is no question that the first three lamps were made in a Cairene workshop, thus offering evidence of both a continuity of production and an obvious artistic decline, the object in Qait-bay's name has always been regarded as an export of European origin (Venice or, more recently, Barcelona) on the basis of its decoration and of the presumed disappearance of the industry in Egypt in the late fifteenth century. In the article, I suggest that, after all, Qait-bay's lamp may represent the swan song of a declining production in Cairo before the demise of the Mamluks and the Ottoman conquest. Keywords: glass (enameled and gilded), Mamluk dynasty (1250-1517), Sultan al-Mu'ayyad (r. 1412-21), Emir Qani-bay (d. 1462), Sultan Qait-bay (r. 1468-96) It is commonplace in manuals of Islamic art, which often relegate the * Curator , Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Vol. XXXIX 2004 69 discussion on the subject of glassmaking to a few sentences, to dismiss post- 1400 production as non-existent in the entire Islamic world. In particular, the sudden disappearance of the celebrated enameled and gilded vessels made for Mamluk sultans, emirs, and wealthy customers is attributed to the sack of Damascus by the hands of the Timurids in 1400-01, who supposedly took with them to Samarqand all craftsmen, including the glassmakers, to satisfy their own needs for artistic production.1 I have briefly argued elsewhere that, in addition to the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever of a production of enameled and gilded glass in Samarqand in the fifteenth century, the most important glass factories in the fourteenth century were almost certainly based in Cairo, the Mamluk capital, which was subjected to a massive demand for mosque lamps made for the sultans and for all the emirs who could afford to have a mosque or a madrasa (Qur'anic school) built in their name.2 Whether Damascus continued to have a leading role in high-quality glassmaking in the fourteenth century is a matter of speculation, but even assuming that the Timurids dealt a final blow to this craft in Syria either by destroying the existing glassmaking factories or through a forced migration of its workers, the fact remains that Egypt did not suffer the same fate. The reason for the sudden decline and near-disappearance of the great production of enameled and gilded glass under the Mamluks at the turn of the fifteenth century, therefore, must be sought elsewhere and not blamed on the Timurids alone. Mosque lamps can tell the story of production of Mamluk enameled and gilded glass better than any other type of vessel, since they often bear their patron's name. A large number of them survive in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo and in many public and private collections worldwide.3 Naturally our knowledge of their development is based on the few hundred extant objects, which certainly represent only a fraction of the original production. Nonetheless, it seems clear that mosque-lamp manufacture witnessed a prodigious boom in the fourteenth century that neither the previous century nor the following one was able to match by a long stretch. In particular, the sultans al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun (r. 1293-1341 with brief interruptions), al-Hasan ibn Muhammad (r. 1347-51 and 1354-61) and al-Zahir Abu Sacid Barquq (r. 1382- 99 with one short interruption) and the dozens of emirs who served under their rules seem to have competed against each other in ordering vast numbers of lamps to be suspended in their mosques, madrasas, and monumental tombs. A quick survey of the lamps in the museum in Cairo reveals that al-Hasan and Barquq were the most prolific patrons;4 this is also because they were responsible for hectic building activities. The reason for having so many extant 70 ORIENT FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENAMELED AND GILDED GLASS MADE FOR THE MAMLUKS lamps dedicated to these two rulers has also to do in part with the fact that the Egyptian government decided to put a stop to the spoliation of religious buildings in the second half of the nineteenth century, when enameled and gilded glass became a prized collectible item, and gathered the remaining lamps in what would later become the Museum of Islamic Art. It may just have happened that the mosques and madrasas built for al-Hasan and Barquq had been left relatively untouched by the plunderers, but a survey of the lamps that belong to museums that acquired the objects after they were taken out of Egypt still confirms that these two sultans were the most persistent patrons. The aim of this short article is a critical analysis of the four known mosque lamps made for the Mamluks after the period of Sultan Barquq in order to establish, on one hand, that production did not entirely die out due to some cataclysmic event such as the sack of Damascus; on the other hand, that the quality of local glassmaking became so tentative as to possibly require foreign imports. The madrasa and khanaqa (hospice for Sufis, including a mosque) built for Sultan Barquq was completed in about 13865 and the dozens of lamps that survive from these buildings represent the largest number dedicated to a single ruler. While this number may be accidental and may not correspond to the actuality of production, it is staggering to realize that the creation of mosque lamps in Cairo ended abruptly, so-to-speak with a bang, at the close of the fourteenth century. No lamp survives, for example, from the period of reign of Faraj, one of Barquq's sons (r. 1399-1407 with a brief interruption), even though his imposing complex is still today one of the largest Mamluk buildings in Cairo. We have instead two, or perhaps three,6 lamps from the madrasa of the sultan al-Mu'ayyad Abu Nasr Shaykh (r. 1412-21), which was built in the years 1410-15 (Fig. 1). As argued in a recent catalogue entry,7 these two objects show continuity in the classical artistic tradition of mosque-lamp making and decoration. From the artistic, calligraphic, technical, and technological viewpoints, therefore, it does not appear that there was a chronological gap in the making of these objects between the late fourteenth century and the first two decades of the fifteenth. Compared to their immediately-known predecessors, that is, the objects made for Sultan Barquq, however, one can notice also some differences in these two lamps. One is the more angular shape of the body and the sharper angle at which the neck and the mouth flare out. Another is the combination of Kufic and thuluth scripts, on two registers, to compose verses from the omnipresent sura 24, or Sura of Light, from the Qur'an. A third Vol. XXXIX 2004 71 difference is in the fact that the two lamps include sections from verses 35 and 36 of the above-mentioned sura (earlier objects invariably include only verse 35), thus perhaps suggesting that the lamps made for this sultan's building were conceived and hung in a particular sequence in order that all, or part of, the Suva of Light could be read or, better, recited. In addition, the historical text around the main inscriptional band, in the name of Sultan Mu'ayyad Shaykh, is unusual, though not unique, in mentioning that the lamps were made specifically for the madrasa of the complex, which became a celebrated fifteenth-century academic institution. These differences can be regarded as variants within an established century-old tradition and do not betray any particular decline in technical skills, technological achievements, artistic intent, and importance of the function of mosque lamps in the interior decoration of religious buildings erected for the Mamluk elite. Even if only two lamps survive from this period, it is clear that patronage and demand were still strong; consequently, the production remained at a high standard, discouraging glassmakers and glass painters from leaving Cairo in search of better patrons or looking for jobs in different crafts in the same town. Shortly after, however, things must have changed, perhaps simply due to a combination of political decline, decrease of cash flow, and a growing disinterest in, and an inability to, endow expensive buildings.
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