“Glassmaking emerged as one of the most popular forms of portable art during the Mamluk period, alongside textiles, metalwork, and pottery, and drew on techniques established by the preceding Ayyubid dynasty. Architecture stood as a hallmark of Mamluk society, recognizable by its sculpture and colors, elements which translated into the portable arts including this oil lamp. This particular lamp likely hung from the ceiling in a Sufi hostel (khanqah) in Egypt during the early 1320s. It bears around its upper body a famous Qu’ran verse describing God as “the light of the heavens and the earth.” Lower down it refers to the patron for whom it was made: a Mamluk amir named al-Karmini or Karim al-Din (retired in 723 AH, 1323 AD) who served under the sultans Baybars II (r. 1309 – 10) and al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun Sayf al-Din (d. 1341).”
-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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