This porcelain lamp was meant to be suspended from the ceiling. An oil lamp would have been placed inside, and the light would have shone through the translucent porcelain and the holes pierced into the lower section.The basic form of this type of lamp was originally made in glass or brass, beginning in the 13th century in Egypt and Syria.Only a few mosque lamps were made in Chinese porcelain, despite that blue and white Chinese porcelain was extremely popular in the Islamic world. Similar porcelain lamps were installed in the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, which shows that the type was used in mosques and churches in the Middle East.
