of waisted globular form with everted rim, the body gilded and ringed at the neck and rim, the shoulder with three suspension loops secured with faceted rivets, the three suspension chains linked to a broad openwork roundel terminating in a S-shaped hook, the openwork base with radiating swirls

An early sixteenth century gilt copper mosque lamp is illustrated in Petsopoulos 1982 and London 1976, no.33. This engraved and pierced example follows the Mamluk glass form with narrow waist and broad flared neck. The curr🍰e🦹nt lot is however of a more sturdy design with the distinctive short neck and globular body that echoes an earlier Timurid prototype, visible in the metalwork tankards of the 15th century and earlier jade vessels.

Unlike the glass lamps this metal lamp would have given off little light apart from the sha🔥dows cast through its openwork base. As with the Iznik lamps of the sixteenth-century their function was symbolic rather than as a source of light. It has been suggested that they were also used as an acoustic device🌃; hung near the place where prayers were read, helping dampen the echo by allowing the voice of the reader to bounce off them (Atasoy and Raby 1989, p.41).