| Abstrakt: |
The Schlossmuseum at Quedlinburg (Sachsen- Anhalt, Germany) owns a very large Islamic glass beaker with gilded and enameled decoration. It is known as the "Lutherbecher" because it is alleged to have been a gift from Martin Luther to a citizen of Quedlinburg. This provenance is dubious, but the beaker was kept in the town hall of Quedlinburg for centuries, and it was probably used on special occasions, as is indicated by many diamond-scratched names on its wall. The lower part of the beaker was broken toward the end of the 19th century, and it was repaired and stabilized with a silver mount. Only three other Islamic glass beakers of similar size are known. They are in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, and the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. To this list, parts of two additional specimens can be added: wall fragments were found during excavations at the former royal castle in Buda (Hungary), and large portions of another beaker came from the site of a medieval Wasserburg in Artern (Thüringen, Germany). The decoration on these finds is very similar to that on the beakers in Munich and Washington, while the large inscription on the "Lutherbecher" is exceptional as a main motif. Because all of these beakers were found far from their place of manufacture in Syria or Egypt, they may have been made for consumers in distant countries. And because they demonstrate the same advanced state of the enameling technique as mosque lamps datable to the 14th century, all of them were probably produced during the first half of that century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
