Glass

Glass objects in the collection date back almost 4,500 years and include objects from virtually every period since. The depth of the glass objects in The al-Sabah Collection allows both scholars and visitors to study, understand and appreciate the evolution of glass techniques from the Bronze Age to 19th century CE.
A stellar example of early glass work can be found on an Achaemenid colourless glass bowl from the late 6th to 5th centuries BCE. The relief-cut rosette, leaf and lotus bud design provides a hint of work to come, presenting a motif that would appear in glass objects even millennia away.
The glassmakers of the Islamic Mediterranean and Iranian regions inherited a rich tradition of techniques and types from their forebears that they were to take in new directions in the mediaeval period.
In Iran the cutting of glass on abrasive wheels continued uninterrupted from the Sasanian period until the 11th century AD. Large numbers of blown glass vessels survive from the earliest period up to the 15th century AD; many of these were blown into metal or ceramic moulds to produce elegant shapes with integral surface decoration..
From the 13th century the glass makers of Syria and Egypt developed a new technique for painting on plain glass vessels. This new type of glass decoration was initially used to produce figural scenes; later a robust calligraphic style was developed, where the entire surface decoration of the likes of mosque lamps and vases is dominated by prominent inscriptions, often further embellished with surface gilding, a style that had never before been seen in glass.

Glass objects in the collection date back almost 4,500 years and include objects from virtually every period since. The depth of the glass objects in The al-Sabah Collection allows both scholars and visitors to study, understand and appreciate the evolution of glass techniques from the Bronze Age to 19th century CE.

A stellar example of early glass work can be found on an Achaemenid colourless glass bowl from the late 6th to 5th centuries BCE. The relief-cut rosette, leaf and lotus bud design provides a hint of work to come, presenting a motif that would appear in glass objects even millennia away.
The glassmakers of the Islamic Mediterranean and Iranian regions inherited a rich tradition of techniques and types from their forebears that they were to take in new directions in the mediaeval period.
In Iran the cutting of glass on abrasive wheels continued uninterrupted from the Sasanian period until the 11th century AD. Large numbers of blown glass vessels survive from the earliest period up to the 15th century AD; many of these were blown into metal or ceramic moulds to produce elegant shapes with integral surface decoration..
From the 13th century the glass makers of Syria and Egypt developed a new technique for painting on plain glass vessels. This new type of glass decoration was initially used to produce figural scenes; later a robust calligraphic style was developed, where the entire surface decoration of the likes of mosque lamps and vases is dominated by prominent inscriptions, often further embellished with surface gilding, a style that had never before been seen in glass.

LNS 258 G

Glass pitcher with trilobed mouth, handle and decorative ‘trails’ in contrasting color

Inv. no. LNS 258 G
Blown and tooled, with applied handle and trailed decoration
Height 10.5 cm; diameter 5.2 cm
Syria, 6th – 7th century AD
pre-Islamic – 1st century AH

LNS 1062 G

Small glass cup, moulded in the ‘millefiori’ technique

Inv. no. LNS 1062 G
Made up of colored glass segments, kiln-fused against a mould
Height 2.3 cm; diameter 6.5 cm
Probably Iranian world, 8th – 9th century AD
2nd – 3rd century AH

LNS 52 KG

Glass beaker, transparent blue body with opaque white trailed and marvered pattern

Inv. no. LNS 52 KG
Glass, blown, trailed, tooled and marvered
Height 6.5 cm; diameter 7 cm
Egypt or Greater Syria, 8th – 9th century AD
2nd – 3rd century AH

LNS 71 KG

Glass bottle, transparent purple body with trailed and marvered pattern in opaque red and yellow and translucent blue and turquoise (the green colour resulting from the overlapping of turquoise onto yellow)

Inv. no. LNS 71 KG
Blown, trailed, tooled and marvered
Height 12.7 cm; diameter 5.7 cm
Egypt or Greater Syria, 8th – 9th century AD
2nd – 3rd century AH

LNS 4 KG

Glass bottle, the entire surface cut, the body with concave facets in hexagonal pattern

Inv. no. LNS 4 KG
Blown and cut by lapidary means
Height 15.8 cm; diameter 8.2 cm
Iranian world, 8th – 10th century AD
2nd century – 4th century

To see more glass objects

For information on our publication Glass from Islamic Lands

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LNS 1407 G
Glass beaker, colorless body, cameo-cut transparent green in a repeating vegetal pattern Inv. no. LNS 1407 G Blown, hot-dipped and cut by lapidary means Height 11 cm; diameter 9.6 cm Iranian world, 2nd half of the 9th century AD 2nd half of the 3rd century AH
LNS 77 G
Fragmentary glass cup relief-cut with pairs of confronted hares and a mythical quadruped Inv. no. LNS 77 G Blown, tooled, cut, ground and polished by lapidary means Height 5.3 cm; diameter 10 cm East Iranian world, 1st half of the 10th century AD 1st half of the 4th century AH
LNS 117 G
Colourless glass ewer with elongated horizontal spout, the foot moulded in the form of a rosette Inv. no. LNS 117 G Mould blown, tooled, with applied handle Height 20.5 cm; width 13 cm Iranian world, 10th - 11th century AD 4th - 5th century AH
LNS 53 G
Enamelled glass stand featuring a Mamluk princely blazon of courtly office (bow and two arrows, for a bunduqdar, or Keeper of the Bow), with Chinese-style lotuses and phoenixes and bands with processions of real and mythical quadrupeds Inv. no. LNS 53 G Blown and tooled, with fired enamels and gold Height 19 cm; diameter 18.5 cm Egypt or Syria, late 13th - early 14th century AD late 7th - early 8th century AH
LNS 138 G
Glass spittoon with bell-shaped base and reservoir, decorated with iris heads inside the compartments of an ogive pattern Inv. no. LNS 138 G Blown, tooled, enamelled and gilded Height 9.7 cm; diameter 9 cm India, ca. late 17th - early 18th century AD late 11th - early 12th century AH
LNS 73 G
Glass huqqa reservoir, transparent middle green, the body decorated with a row of flowering plants reserved on a field of gold Inv. no. LNS 73 G Blown, tooled and gilded Height 18.6 cm; diameter 17.5 cm India, 1st quarter, 18th century AD 1st quarter 12th century AH
LNS 69 G
Enamelled glass ‘vase’ featuring two Chinese-style phoenixes and a large thuluth inscription exclaiming ‘Glory to our Lord the Sultan, the King, the Learned’ Inv. no. LNS 69 G Blown, tooled, with applied decorative handles, enamelled and gilded Height 27.5 cm; diameter 15.8 cm Syria or Egypt, 1st half 14th century AD 1st half 8th century AH
LNS 113 KG
Glass bowl, exterior slant-cut in relief, the walls with a series of large ‘fleshy’ half-palmettes. Filling the bottom, is a winged senmurv-like creature, the head in the form of a palmette Inv. no. LNS 113 KG Blown, carved by lapidary means Height 4.4 cm; diameter 13.5 cm East Iranian world, ca. late 9th - 10th century AD ca. late 3rd - 4th century AH
LNS 8 G
Glass bottle with conical neck and widely flaring rim (so-called ‘mallet bottle’ shape), the body with a relief design of counterchanging deltoid compartments, each containing a large palmette Inv. no. LNS 8 G Mould-blown and tooled Height 20.5 cm; diameter 10.5 cm Iranian world, 10th century AD 4th century AH
LNS 101 KG
Glass beaker, with two turbanned men seemingly fowling amidst flying geese and vegetation surrounding a body of water Inv. no. LNS 101 KG Blown, tooled, enamelled and gilded Height 11.6 cm; diameter 8 cm Egypt or Syria, 2nd half 13th century AD 2nd half 7th century AH
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