Name of Object:

Candlestick of Qalawun

Location:

Jerusalem

Holding Museum:

Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif

About Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem

Original Owner:

Mamluk Sultan, al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun (who ruled three times: AH 693–4, 698–708 and 709–41 / AD 1294–5, 1299–1309 and 1309–40)

Date of Object:

Hegira 693–741 / AD 1294–1340

Museum Inventory Number:

أ/ ن/ 4

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Copper, engraved and inlaid with silver.

Dimensions:

Height 38.5 cm, height (of neck) 19.5 cm, diameter 23.5 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Probably Cairo, Egypt.

Description:

A copper candlestick consisting of a cylindrical body, base and neck. The cylindrical neck is smaller in diameter than the base and body. At the top of the neck is a candleholder that is wider than the neck. Three decorative bands wrap themselves around the relatively broad base of the candlestick. The first band consists of shapes that are separated from each other by polygons. The second band is characterised by interwoven half-leaves that wrap around each other like a necklace. The third band is similar in shape to an ear of wheat. The body of this candlestick is reminiscent of another, also in the Museum, that belonged to al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun.
The body of the candlestick exhibited here has an engraved inscription band in large Mamluk naskhi script, which fills its surface. The spaces in between the inscription are filled with intertwining vegetal motifs, which continue until there are no spaces remaining on the surface of the candlestick body. The inscription reads: “The possession of our lord, the great amir, the all-knowing, the just, the sovereign, the victorious”.The inscription is intersected by two circular medallions, each of which is formed by an outer circle filled with depictions of lotus flowers, and an inner circle that contains one big flower. The body ends with two bands of vegetal decoration that resemble the remaining decorative scheme of the body.
The top-plate of the candlestick is devoid of decoration and it is probably not original; the original was probably decorated and perhaps had an inscription band. It is likely that replacement of the top-plate took place when the neck of the candlestick was replaced, but it is not known when these alterations took place. The replaced neck, also undecorated, indicates the decline in craftsmanship during the late Mamluk period. There is striking similarity between this candlestick and that of al-Nasir Muhammad, which suggests that both candlesticks were made by the same craftsman in the same period.

A copper candlestick with thick vegetal decorative motifs. Its epigraphic inscriptions are within medallions and written in large Mamluk naskhi script, with backgrounds of vegetal decoration. The inscriptions are linked to the ruler, al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun, who endowed it to al-Haram al-Ibrahimi in Hebron.

How date and origin were established:

This piece was dated based on the inscriptions on it, which also mention the Mamluk sultan, al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun.

How Object was obtained:

The piece was transferred after 1967 from al-Haram al-Ibrahimi in Hebron (al-Khalil), to the Islamic Museum in Jerusalem.

How provenance was established:

Cairo was narrowed down as the place of production by studying the craftsmanship and decoration of these candlesticks, and by comparing them with two similar candlesticks in the Islamic Museum in Cairo that were produced in the same period.

Selected bibliography:

Abu Khalaf, M., Islamic Art Through the Ages: Masterpieces of the Islamic Museum of al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem, 1998.
__________, “Three Candlesticks from the Islamic Museum of al-Haram al-Sharif”, Levant, No. 20, 1988.

Citation of this web page:

Nazmi Al-Ju'beh "Candlestick of Qalawun" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pa;Mus01;20;en

Prepared by: Nazmi Al-Ju'behNazmi Al-Ju'beh

Nazmi Al-Ju'beh is an archaeologist and historian and Co-Director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, Palestine. He studied at Birzeit University in Palestine and at Tübingen University in Germany. He taught at Birzeit University and at al-Quds University. He was Director of the Islamic Museum, al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem, and directed various cultural heritage projects in Palestine, including surveys of archaeological and architectural sites. He was a major contributor to Pilgrimage, Sciences and Sufism: Islamic Art in the West Bank and Gaza (Vienna: MWNF, 2004) and is the author of numerous publications on the history, archaeology and cultural heritage of Palestine.
Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: PA 20