| Object ID |
2006.0002.001 |
| Accession# |
2006.0002 |
| Object Name |
Lamp, Mosque |
| Description |
Colored glass hanging votives from the late 1800s. Hand-blown and cross hatched quilted design in the glass; open top to receive oil and wick; glass rim and nick to hold a wire to fasten them to a rod wire or chain in a Muslim mosque. See notes for more information.
Clear - 18
Green - 17
Blue - 12
Yellow - 20
Gray/Purple - 13 |
| Date |
1800s |
| Search Terms |
Candlesticks
Lighting
Votives
Glass
Glassware |
| Collection |
Robert L. Hunker Collection |
| People |
Hunker, Robert L. |
| Subjects |
Candles
Glassblowing
Glassworking |
| Catalog date |
01/06/2006 |
| Catalog type |
History |
| Count |
83 |
| Dimensions |
H-3.75 Dia-1.5 inches |
| Home Location |
6138 Riverview Road Suite F |
| Notes |
I, Robert L. Hunker, purchased the collection of mosque lamps in New York City at Gramercy Galleries & Auction House in the mid 1950s thinking they were early Christian Christmas Tree candles. I used them for several years with either real candles or a light from tree lights. In 1960, I had them on a tree at the Yellow Creek residence and lighted them for a special party which was spectacular. I wanted them lit on the last party day before New Year's Eve and directed the daughter of one of my house staff who was working as a dining room waitress to light them with long fireplace matches. The tree by that late in the season was very dry so I put buckets of water by the tree remembering my mother and grandmother describing Christmas Eve in Acme, Pennsylvania with a lighted tree and two men behind it with buckets. As the guests arrived, the waitress got on a step stool to light them and as she reached to the top the stool slid out from under her. She crashed into the tree to the floor and "torched" the tree into flames. The water saved all but "what a mess." Twenty years later, I went to Israel and entered my first mosque. Surprise, the glass lamps were hung on iron rods on circles to illuminate the mosque. They were filled with oil, very dirty with soot. I have since visited many mosques in the Eastern world and found the same or similar however in the well kept mosques they were kept clean and sparkling. Now we know that they are not Christian but Muslim.
Robert L. Hunker
January 3, 2006
|
| Recfrom |
Hunker Collection |
|
