Mosque lamp. Egypt, 15th century AD. GLS0572. The Khalili collections © 2011 Khalili Family Trust

height: 33cm; max diameter: 25cm. Mosque lamp with gilded and enamelled decoration, including blazons of the Mamluk Sultan Barquq and a Qur'anic verse (the opening part of ayat al-nur, or 'Verse of Light'). the Lamp enclosed in Glass’. This is broken by three roundels with the heraldic blazon of Sultan Barquq, the Circassian usurper of the Bahri Mamluk dynasty in 784 AH (1382 AD), in the form of an inscription. The body bears a slightly more elaborate version of the same inscription in bold script.