A COLLECTION OF NINE IRANIAN MONOCHROME-GLAZED POTTERY OIL LAMPS
Iran, 10th - 12th century

Comprising nine oil lamps of typical shape, with compressed globular bodies, on flat unglazed bases, round mouths and long beak-shaped spouts, the bodies painted in three different monochrome glazes in a range of turquoise, amber and purple hues, one of the amber oil lamps with moulded decoration to the body and on the finger guard, the largest 14cm wide.

Oil lamps were ubiquitous across all Islamic lands and were both heavily decorated and left plain. Our collection of nine displays a range of coloured monochrome glazes, from the common turquoise to the rarer manganese purple. One of the amber lamps showcases a particular technique, typical of the Kashan potters of the time, which consisted in applying glaze over moulded decorations so that the glaze would collect in the furrows of the pattern, accentuating after firing its details (O. Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, 2004, p. 306).

Dimensions: the largest 14cm wide