A Mamluk enamelled glass perfume sprinkler (qumqum), Syria, Late 13th century

Collection of Antonin ‘Tony’ Bernard Besse (1927-2016) and Christiane Besse (1928-2021), Paris, most likely acquired in Lebanon before 1975

Thence by descent, until acquired by the present owner

While the form is typical of late thirteenth-century glass perfume sprinklers, the extensive gilding and application of red, green and pink enamel, covering the entirety of the vessel, mark the present perfume sprinkler out as an exceptional example of its type. Significant is the use of opaque pink enamel, a relatively rare colour virtually absent from later Mamluk glasswork (Carboni 2001, p.324).

Comparable sprinklers include two with heraldic motifs in the Louvre (inv. no.OA 7244) and Corning Museum of Glass (inv. no.69.1.2; Carboni and Whitehouse 2001, p.246) and two with zodiac motifs in the al-Sabah Collection (inv. nos.LNS 48 G, LNS 70 G; Carboni 2001, pp.352-3). Another comparable sprinkler, with its original neck, was sold in these rooms, 28 April 2004, lot 99.