MUSCAT

This is a polished brass lantern of original design, first commissioned in 1990 for the royal palace of Oman.

The octagonal body is fabricated from sixteen brass sheets; two sheets compose each panel. The panels form a series of rounded arches inset with etched openwork screens in alternating geometric and floral arabesques. The outer rectangular sheet is 1.5 mm thick. The purpose of using unusually heavy gauge brass (the brass in most lanterns is 0.6 or 0.7 mm) is to create an effect of depth in the design. The panels are decorated with etched simple arabesques which form the lower band, arch borders and a roundel above the arch containing a curvilinear geometric pattern. The roundel continues to form a rectangular border. Within the rectangles on either side of the roundel are pierced floral arabesques.

The inset screens are 1 mm thick. The geometric pattern is an interlacing ten-sided star. The floral arabesque has been adapted from a blind arch the artist found in the royal palace at Fez, Morocco.

Splayed crenelated cresting forms the upper and lower rims of the lantern body.

Both upper and lower domes are octagonal and have etched floral arabesque openwork. The lower dome forms the door to the lanter, ending in a knop. The base of the body between the rim and the lower dome has etched floral arabesque openwork and openings for specially designed shallow bulbous glass qanadil. The upper dome is larger than the lower dome and is surmounted by a globular finial connected to a hollow cylindrical brass shaft through which electrical wiring can be inserted. The brass shaft contains a steel rod welded to a steel crossbar. A cast steel hook is welded to the rod to suspend the lantern.

LMAM-40