The Qur’an, Islam’s holy text, describes the Prophet Muhammad as ‘one who calls all to Allah by his leave, and a light-diffusing lamp’ (33:46). The light of a lamp, in oil, was considered to dispel the darkness of confusion and of heresy, and to guide one towards the eternal or primordial light (nur) of God. For Persians, the lamp was considered especially sacred and important, mixing Islamic ideas about light with folk traditions about lamps (cheragh). Lamps should be lit before the last rays of the sun disappear, and not put out before the sun has fully risen. Even if one has servants who can do this on your behalf, it is important that the lady of the house should light and snuff out the lamps. When a lamp is lit, it is saluted with the phrase ‘greetings to the King of the Light’ (salam bar shah e-cheragh); and while it is lit, tradition indicates one should look at something green, a mirror, a horse, or a pretty face, while reciting a benediction. Lights were a vital component of the Persian New Year celebrations, where lamps were kept lit for seven consecutive days. Lamps were burned in the bedrooms of newborns, to protect the infants from evil spirits, and were an important element of funerary services. A special lamp surrounded by sweets (sab-e sham-e gariban) was burned in a room in which a corpse had been present in order to prevent the ghost of the deceased from returning. Associated with prosperity, lamps were lit by merchants in their stores every evening; upon entering a shop, it was customary to say to the merchant ‘may your lamp be ever lit!’ (cheragh at-rowshan), to which the shop-owner would reply ‘may the lamp of your light be lit!’ (cheragh-e omr-at rowshan).

The provision of light was considered a part of good hospitality. While the streets of Tehran never rivalled Paris as the ‘City of Lights’, the local authorities there nonetheless insisted that the wealthy should light a lamp outside of their house and keep it burning for three hours into the night in order or provide light to their neighbours. Different types of lamp were used for different purposes. Small terracotta lamps with a single wick, known as ‘mouse lamps’ (cheragh-e mushi), were predominantly used by the poor and in public facilities such as lavatories, kitchens and water cisterns. As the saying went, ‘a mouse lamp is better than darkness’ (cheragh-e mushi beh az kamushi). Other lamps burnt different fuels, enhancing their brightness. Castor oil fuelled the lamps of the poor, while the polluting and unpleasant naphtha lamp (cheragh-e nafti) was used in Caspian Sea region. But the most expensive and important lamps used vegetable oil or olive oil.

This charming little lamp is of the final type: a bronze oil lamp fuelled with vegetable or olive oil. The main well of the lamp is formed as a bisected pear or teardrop, terminating in a pointed spout shaped like a lotus bud. The trumpet-shaped foot has an octagonal cross-section, while at the rear of the lamp is a ring handle. The lid of the lamp well was originally hinged, and has a small handle in the shape of a bird. Another bird would once have stood on the top of the ring handle, but is now missing. Every surface of the lamp is covered with incised decoration, with pseudo-calligraphic elements, lines, and geometric patterns. The bird finial possibly represents a parakeet (either the Alexandrine parakeet, Psittacula eupatria, or rose-ringed parakeet, Psittacula krameri), which often featured on these lamps. Tame parakeets were considered one of the ultimate indications of luxury and status, not least because they are incredibly adept mimics, able to copy the tone and intonation of human speech.

References: examples of similar oil lamps with bird finials, sometimes on the handle in addition to or instead of on the lid, can be found in London (Victoria and Albert Museum M.68-1922, M.67-1922), New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art 53.204.2), Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago 1926.1148), Macon (Holmes Holy Land Collection, Mercer University 3143), Istanbul (Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts 4252, 4253).