Bottle, Mameluke dynasty, mid-14th century.

Enamelled glass, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon.

 

 

B – Enamelled Glass

 

As far as form and design are concerned, the enamelled glass industry in the East produced objects of undeniable originality. In the early days of Arab domination, the glass industry apparently limited itself to the production of measuring vessels, which took the form of discs or large rings, with specific dates on them. Some of them even bore the names of the first Egyptian governors who ruled under the Caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad, and the names of the Fatimid Sultans of the 10th and 11th centuries, which is sufficient proof that they were produced and used on a large scale in Egypt. There were equally potter’s marks on the vases stating their exact capacity. There equally were found phials with very thin walls which certainly must have been meant for perfumes. A good number of these phials, in varied forms and with no decorations, have survived to our day in a complete state of iridescence, indicating that they had stayed in the soil for long or at least in the shadow of the tombs in which they were supposed to be kept filled with water or perfumes to accompany a corpse, as was the case in ancient times.

Some among these will need to be studied, especially those with moulded decorations. The most important glass objects which still exist from Oriental workshops include: cups, saucepans, bottles and enamelled lamps that hung from chains attached to the ceilings of mosques. Although glassmakers demonstrated rare skill in producing glass objects on a very large scale, the product was not always of prime quality, given that the glass was often filled with bubbles and defects. Enamelling must have been one of the artistic traditions inherited from Constantinople.

Epigraphy, through large inscriptions, and floral or animal motifs were used as decoration. Sometimes, though quite rarely, drawings of people either hunting or playing polo are reminiscent of the decorations of encrusted Mesopotamian copper. The bottom of the article is sometimes left undecorated or enamelled; this consequently renders the decor imperceptible, revealed by very fine traces of enamel. The colours used are red, blue, green, yellow and pink.

Furthermore, the history of Muslim civilisations in Asia made it easy for an industry like the enamelled glass industry to thrive in regions where other art industries had greatly flourished. Written documents incidentally authenticate this viewpoint. Damascus and Tyre certainly became very renowned for the production of enamelled glass.

An Arab geographer, el-Mou-kaddassi, who described Muslim countries in the 10th century, reveals to us that Tyre was famous for its lathe-cut glassware. Guillaume, Archbishop of Tyre (1130-1188), equally noticed the presence of a glass industry in Syria. Benjamin de Tudele (1173) mentions ten glass-works that he saw in Antioch, and the famous, widely esteemed glassware from Tyre. Jacques de Vitry reveals that the glass industry in Saint-Jean d’Acre was as prosperous as the one in Tyre.