AN INTACT FINE BLUE GLASS SPRINKLER (QUM QUM)
Ayyubid or Mamluk Egypt or Syria, 12th - 13th century

Of pronounced bulbous shape, with an oblate spheroid body resting on an oval concave base, with flattened profile, rising to a pinched, tapering neck ending in a tiny rounded mouth, a thick layer of iridescence around the shoulders and neck's base, 17.5cm high.

Provenance: The Andrew Rudebeck Glass Collection, Gorringe's, 8 December 2020, lot 146.

Andrew Rudebeck is an enthusiastic British collector of glass, vaunting one of the most impressive collections of late-medieval stained-glass roundels. His knowledge on this subject converged into a book he published in 2014, The Andrew Rudebeck Collection: English Stained Glass. It shouldn't surprise that an eager glass collector like him would appreciate the fine and delicate design of this blue glass qum qum, typical of the late Ayyubid and Mamluk period.

Archaeological and visual evidence confirms that perfume bottles (sg. qum qum, pl. qamaqim) of this kind were produced in great numbers by Ayyubid and Mamluk glassmakers. Their bodies were never fully globular, the sides always had a characteristic flattened profile, which increased their ergonomics and made them safer to handle. Intended as elements of toilet sets, the very narrow neck served the purpose of trickling only a few drops of the precious liquid contained inside the main body. The earliest enamelled exemplars tend to date mostly to the reign of the Mamluk sultan Baybars I (r. 1260 - 77), confirming the great popularity of these bottles in the 13th century and their constant enhancement through time (S. Carboni and D. Whitehouse, Glass of the Sultans, 2001, p. 246).

The Corning Museum of Glass was gifted a very similar sprinkler (inv. no. 54.1.73), made of clear glass with a greenish tint (Ibidem, fig. 3, p. 73). Analogous examples have also successfully sold at auction in the UK market, please see Christie's London, 8 April 2011, lot 126; Sotheby's London, 28 April 2004, lot 99 and 22 April 2015, lot 23.