Fine mosque lamps are usually made of enamelled glass, often with gilding. They are oil lamps, usually with a large round body and a narrower neck that flares towards the top. They were often made with internal containers to be filled with oil and a wick to produce light. Some were also made in Islamic pottery, though this was much less efficient for actual lighting.
Egyptian enamelled glass mosque lamp made for Amir Qawsun, ca. 1329–1335
The later plain type hanging in Istanbul
Modern electric lighting in Amman
İznik pottery lamp with lotuses c. 1510. Similar to four lamps that hung in the mausoleum of Bayezid II in Istanbul
Enamelled glass or painted glass is glass which has been decorated with vitreous enamel and then fired to fuse the glasses. It can produce brilliant and long-lasting colours, and be translucent or opaque. Unlike most methods of decorating glass, it allows painting using several colours, and along with glass engraving, has historically been the main technique used to create the full range of image types on glass.
The Reichsadlerhumpen, a glass with the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, and the arms of the various territories on its wings, was a popular showpiece of enamelled glass in the German lands from the 16th century on. Dated 1743, this is a late example
The Luck of Edenhall, a 13th-century enamelled glass cup made in Syria or Egypt
Dish cold-painted on the underside with Mannerist nudes, Venice, after 1550, showing the severe losses of paint.
The Tutmose III jar, c. 1425 BC
