DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36284#0022
14
Egyptian origin ; quite as little as the tact that most of the
lamps in European collections were taken from the mosques
of Cairo. Cairo was the capital of the Mameluke kingdom,
with the greatest number of mosques, and has been, since
the French expedition, the most accessible Arab city to
Europeans.
Our conviction, based upon historical and artistic
points of detail, as well as upon a chemical analysis, is, that
the lamps were fabricated in Syria, most of them probably
in Damascus. Many of the other examples of glass-work
had their origin undoubtedly in 'Irak.
Before closing these general observations, we will
examine the theory, supported by many writers, of the
alleged Venetian imitation of this kind of glass-work.
Gayet maintains, as we have already mentioned above,
that the buildings erected by the last Mameluke Sultans
Marye's assertion is true in so tar as it can be connected
with Oriental art in general, and with the labours of
Oriental-Byzantine artists after the capture of Constanti-
nople by the Turks (1453). These artists, however, after
the year 1453, had nothing to do with mosque-lamps, and
other glass-work of that kind; as may be readily seen from
the chronological review of all the extant specimens of old
gilt and enamelled glass which are known to us.
Carl Friedrich* makes strenuous efforts to elaborate
a theory that the gilt and painted glass vessels made from
uncoloured glass, which are seemingly Arabic, are not
Oriental but Venetian. In support of this view, he cites
the of the description of some pieces in the
inventory of the Due d'Anjou in 1360, in which it is said
that three blue bottles are " de l'ouvrage de Damas "; and
from the inventory of Charles V of France in 1379, the
phrase that three red glasses were "ala facon de Damas";
were lighted by great numbers of lamps fabricated in
Venice. And it is asserted still more positively by Georges
Marye* that the Venetians had been endeavouring since
the fifteenth century to monopolise the manufacture of
lamps, in order to supply the East with them, and with
that object in view, they had (with more courage than our
modern industrial houses seem to possess) " enticed
Egyptian glass-makers " into their service. Many of the
examples produced in Venice were, in Marye's opinion,
" made by artists from the East, which thus became, to
a certain degree, the nursing-mother of the Italian
Renaissance."
For Gayet's theory, and for the first part of Marye's
statement, there is, so far as we are aware, no testimony
available, nor is there an attempt made by either author to
produce anything of the kind. The second portion of
* L'Exposition d'art musulman. Gazette des Bcaux-Arts, 3*ne periode,
t. XI, p. 54.
as well as others which run thus : " a la facon de Damas
par dehors," " par dehors a ymages a la fagon de Damas,"
" en fagon de Damas," all these descriptions being applied
to painted and ornamented glass. One is said to be
" peint a la Morisque." Friedrich assumes from his reading
of these phrases that the genuine glass of Damascus was
blue only, although, even from his own point of view, it
might possibly have been mere chance, or perhaps
a personal predilection on the part of the purchaser,
which brought only blue Damascus glass into the possession
of the Duke. Then he finds that in another inventory of
King Charles, written by a different scribe, who naturally
would make use of different forms of expression, the red
glass, and others, are described as " wrought in the style of
the Damascene [glass]," or as "painted on the outside
with figures, in Damascene style." From all this to
conclude that any glass not blue in colour is thereby shown
* Die Altdeutsclien Glaser, p. 130.
Egyptian origin ; quite as little as the tact that most of the
lamps in European collections were taken from the mosques
of Cairo. Cairo was the capital of the Mameluke kingdom,
with the greatest number of mosques, and has been, since
the French expedition, the most accessible Arab city to
Europeans.
Our conviction, based upon historical and artistic
points of detail, as well as upon a chemical analysis, is, that
the lamps were fabricated in Syria, most of them probably
in Damascus. Many of the other examples of glass-work
had their origin undoubtedly in 'Irak.
Before closing these general observations, we will
examine the theory, supported by many writers, of the
alleged Venetian imitation of this kind of glass-work.
Gayet maintains, as we have already mentioned above,
that the buildings erected by the last Mameluke Sultans
Marye's assertion is true in so tar as it can be connected
with Oriental art in general, and with the labours of
Oriental-Byzantine artists after the capture of Constanti-
nople by the Turks (1453). These artists, however, after
the year 1453, had nothing to do with mosque-lamps, and
other glass-work of that kind; as may be readily seen from
the chronological review of all the extant specimens of old
gilt and enamelled glass which are known to us.
Carl Friedrich* makes strenuous efforts to elaborate
a theory that the gilt and painted glass vessels made from
uncoloured glass, which are seemingly Arabic, are not
Oriental but Venetian. In support of this view, he cites
the of the description of some pieces in the
inventory of the Due d'Anjou in 1360, in which it is said
that three blue bottles are " de l'ouvrage de Damas "; and
from the inventory of Charles V of France in 1379, the
phrase that three red glasses were "ala facon de Damas";
were lighted by great numbers of lamps fabricated in
Venice. And it is asserted still more positively by Georges
Marye* that the Venetians had been endeavouring since
the fifteenth century to monopolise the manufacture of
lamps, in order to supply the East with them, and with
that object in view, they had (with more courage than our
modern industrial houses seem to possess) " enticed
Egyptian glass-makers " into their service. Many of the
examples produced in Venice were, in Marye's opinion,
" made by artists from the East, which thus became, to
a certain degree, the nursing-mother of the Italian
Renaissance."
For Gayet's theory, and for the first part of Marye's
statement, there is, so far as we are aware, no testimony
available, nor is there an attempt made by either author to
produce anything of the kind. The second portion of
* L'Exposition d'art musulman. Gazette des Bcaux-Arts, 3*ne periode,
t. XI, p. 54.
as well as others which run thus : " a la facon de Damas
par dehors," " par dehors a ymages a la fagon de Damas,"
" en fagon de Damas," all these descriptions being applied
to painted and ornamented glass. One is said to be
" peint a la Morisque." Friedrich assumes from his reading
of these phrases that the genuine glass of Damascus was
blue only, although, even from his own point of view, it
might possibly have been mere chance, or perhaps
a personal predilection on the part of the purchaser,
which brought only blue Damascus glass into the possession
of the Duke. Then he finds that in another inventory of
King Charles, written by a different scribe, who naturally
would make use of different forms of expression, the red
glass, and others, are described as " wrought in the style of
the Damascene [glass]," or as "painted on the outside
with figures, in Damascene style." From all this to
conclude that any glass not blue in colour is thereby shown
* Die Altdeutsclien Glaser, p. 130.