Friday, March 29, 2013
"Fourteenth Century Syrian Glass"
8:36pm

I've been continuing digging in old photo folders, finding all sorts of lovely things!


Lamp
Egypt or Syria, mid-14th century
Glass, free-blown and tooled, enameled and gilded
Height: 14 7/8 in. (37.78 cm); Diameter: 11 1/2 in. (29.21 cm)
William Randolph Hearst Collection, LACMA #50.28.4
Info card
Alternate view...

This lamp was designed to be suspended from the little loops around its sides. The following piece at Chicago's Art Institute is very similar to the one at LACMA:


Lamp, 14th century
Egypt or Syria
Glass painted with red, blue, pale green, and white enamels and gilding
Dimensions: 28.2 x 18.1 x 18.1 cm (11 1/16 x 7 1/8 x 7 1/8 in.) Martin A. Ryerson Collection, ARTIC #1932.1179

My photo of these three pieces at Smithsonian's Freer Gallery is a bit fuzzy, but you can get some idea:


Piece behind and to the right: Vase with four handles
Glass, enameled and gilded
Damascus, Syria, Mamluk period, ca. 1325-50
Accession Number: F1934.19

(Forward Piece) Bowl
Gilded and enameled glass
Syria, 1350s-1400s
Accession Number: F1933.13
Here's a better view of the bowl:

(From info card)
"Monumental in scale and exquisitely decorated, this deep bowl is characteristic of the finest glass production in late-fourteenth-century Syria. Its decorative frieze of fantastic animals - two griffins, two sphinxes, a lion, and three unicorns - is punctuated with the blazons of the Rasulid rulers of Yemen (1228-1454), identifying them once again as patrons of this vessel. In addition to its impressive size and sophisticated design, the bowl is remarkable for its enameling on both the exterior and interior surfaces."

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