Keywords: Turkish - Iznik Fritware Mosque Sphere - Walters 481022 - Profile.jpg Islamic religious buildings traditionally were lit with glass lamps generally called mosque lamps that hung from chains In 16th-century Turkey it was common to make mosque lamps from glazed ceramic and to pair them with round or oval ornaments Such ceramic pieces were of little use as lighting fixtures They may have functioned however as acoustic devices hung in groups to soften the echo of voices in the prayer hall Mosque lamps were also symbols of divine light and therefore of God's presence in the place of prayer while the ornamental spheres symbolized the orb of heaven This piece once hung with a lamp possibly in either the mosque or mausoleum of Sultan Selim I in Istanbul The inscription around the body of the sphere is a hadith or saying attributed to the prophet Muhammad The world is only one hour so hasten to prayer before dying and hasten to repent before death early Other date century 16 Ottoman gilt on fritware with underglaze blue decoration cm 13 15 1 h x diam accession number 48 1022 27801 Henry Walters Baltimore date and mode of acquisition unknown Walters Art Museum Henry Walters Acquired by Henry Walters Translation The world is only one hour so hasten to prayer before dying and hasten to repent before death The Here and the Hereafter Images of Paradise in Islamic Art Asia Society New York; Hood Museum of Art Hanover; Bowdoin College Museum of Art Brunswick; University Art Gallery University of California Berkeley Berkeley; Springfield Museums Springfield 1991 place of origin Iznik Turkey Walters Art Museum license Islamic art in the Walters Art Museum Art from Turkey Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review İznik ceramics |