http://collection.shangrilahawaii.org/internal/media/dispatcher/17945/fullBronze and Polychrome Glass Hanging Lamp19th - 20th centuryOverall: 46 1/2 x 21 7/8 in. (118.1 x 55.6cm)Copper alloy, glassCourtesy of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art54.161This magnificent hanging lamp illuminates the Ottoman gallery with multicolored light filtered through decorative perforations and lobed openings filled with multicolored glass. The lamp is topped with a domed shade and supported by ornate chains. The circular sockets at the bottom of the lamp would have originally held long, cylindrical blown-glass lamps.
This type of lamp originated with the master metalworkers of the Mamluk period in Egypt and Syria (1250–1517 CE). In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the art and architecture of the Mamluk period experienced a revival, in part because of a growing demand from European and American museums, collectors, and tourists. Western Orientalist painters depicted objects in this style in their fantastical depictions of the Islamic world. For example, a large, pierced metal lamp is documented in a painting by Spanish painter, Antonio Maria Fabres y Costa (1854–1938) in his Lighting the Lamp.Metalwork0E-10118.11023622050E-101644963668