Page 193 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

ISLAMIC EMPIRES
The conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed n from Baghdad to Tabriz; while in the East the consequences for the arts during this period.
in 1453 sealed the Ottomans' rise to power. Timurid court at Herat set the model for Enthusiasm for Chinese porcelains led to the
Mehmed's successors were ultimately to extend princely patronage. development of Iznik blue-and-white ware,
Ottoman hegemony over most of the Near The taste and extraordinary skill of the court while Ottoman and Mamluk diplomacy occa-
East, but in the closing decades of the fifteenth artists and craftsmen are evident in all that sioned visits to the Near East by prominent
century rival Islamic empires continued to they produced—religious manuscripts and par- Italian artists, who on their return redefined
flourish. The Mamluks under Qd'it Bay con- aphernalia, arms and armor, costumes, and the European image of the Islamic world.
trolled Egypt, Syria, and southeastern Turkey; precious objects designed for personal use.
the Aqqoyunlu (White Sheep) Turcomans ruled Contacts with China and Europe also had

79
Since, however, hostilities between the Aqqoy-
COMPOSITE STANDARD LAMP unlu and the Ottomans culminated in the defeat

c. 1470—1478 of Uzun Hasan at Ba§kent in eastern Turkey in
Aqqoyunlu Turcoman 1473, Uzun Hasan may seem an unlikely donor to
cast or beaten brass, engraved and inlaid with silver a Sufi shrine in the heart of Ottoman territory.
(the drip-tray, of a different alloy, may be Melikian-Chirvani has, therefore, suggested that
subsequent, though possibly contemporary addition) the lamp, probably one of a pair, was dedicated to
5
height 121 (47 /s) a presumed mausoleum of Hajji Bayram Veil,
references: Encyclopedia of Islam 1960- , "Hddjdji somewhere closer to Aqqoyunlu territory, popu-
Bay ram Wall"; Bayramoglu 1983; Melikian- larly revered as such or deliberately encouraged
Chirvani 1987; Grube 19^9 for propaganda purposes by Uzun Hasan himself.

The Rabenou Charitable Settlement Number One J.M.R.

This composite standard lamp (chiraghdan] has
a bowl-shaped reservoir and a tall knopped shaft.
Its candlestick-shaped base is in the form of a
truncated cone. Such lamps, despite their improb-
able shape, are illustrated in a Kalila wa Dimna
manuscript (Topkapi Sarayi Library H. 362, folios 80
36b and 95a) made in 1431 for Baysunqur Mirza
at Herat that includes miniatures of earlier date LANTERN
which have been pasted in.
The lamp bears a series of inscriptions in Arabic c. 1470
and Persian dedicating it as waqf to the shrine- Turkish, Ottoman
beaten silver
mausoleum of an eminent Sufi Shaykh, Bayram height 6j (26 /s); base diameter 40 (i5 /4J
3
3
Baba Vali, stipulating that it shall not be removed inscribed: Koran xxiv, the Surat al-Nur
from the shrine and invoking God's curses upon references: Washington 1966, no. 254;
anyone who replaces it or disposes of it by London 1982, fig. 6; Istanbul 1983, no. E2i
istibdal—the buying out of the assets of an older
waqf in favor of a new endowment, a practice for- Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi, Istanbul
bidden by many Muslim lawyers. There follow
c
praises of the twelve Shi i Imams and, on the This hexagonal lantern, decorated with openwork
candlestick-shaped base, brief prayers for the and repousse with chased detailing, was probably
Sultan Abu'1-Nasr Hasan Bahadur Khan, that is, made for Mehmed n's mosque, Fatih in Istanbul.
the Aqqoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan (d. 1478). The Each facet of the lamp is decorated by lobed
earliest known coin of Uzun Hasan's to bear these medallions—with split-palmette arabesque trac-
titles is dated 1470-1471, and this lamp evidently ery—on a ground of dense chinoiserie foliate
dates from between 1470 and 1478. trails. On a scrolling ground above and below are
The exact extent of Uzun Hasan's allegiance to fine, rounded inscriptions of Koran xxiv, the
Sufism is still under discussion; however, at least Chapter of Light, verse 35.
c
up to the extreme polarization of Shi ism and Melikian-Chirvani has argued that the Sufi A tray or polycandelon, inserted into the base,
Sunnism under the early Safavids in Iran, praises shaykh to whom the lamp is dedicated must be is designed to hold seven oil lamps. In one of the
of the twelve Imams would not invariably have Hajji Bayram Veil, the founder of the Bayramiyya sides, a door opens and provides access to the
been regarded as incompatible with Sunnism. order whose mausoleum-shrine is at Ankara. lamps from above. J.M.R.

192 CIRCA 1492