A large hand-colored drawing of an 18th-century glass mosque lamp from a Cairo mosque, from the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild — studio work of Eugène-Victor Collinot, bearing the blind embossed stamp of his atelier Recueil de Dessins pour l'Art et l'Industrie, E. Collinot & Co., Paris, c. 1880.
ARTIST: Eugène-Victor Collinot (French, d. 1882) and atelier
PERIOD: c. 1875–1882
CATEGORY: Works on Paper / Orientalism / Islamic Art
MEDIUM: Hand-colored drawing on paper
DIMENSIONS: Approximately 12 × 20 inches
INSCRIBED: Lower margin in French: Lampe en verre du 18e siècle d'une mosquée au Caire, appartient au Baron Alphonse de Rothschild — "18th-century glass lamp from a mosque in Cairo, belonging to Baron Alphonse de Rothschild." Printer's reference: Imp. St. Jacques, Paris.
BLIND STAMP: Recueil de Dessins pour l'Art et l'Industrie / E. Collinot & Co., verso
CONTEXT: Eugène-Victor Collinot was the pivotal figure in the transmission of Islamic decorative arts to 19th-century France. With Adalbert de Beaumont he founded a faïence atelier in the Bois de Boulogne producing wares inspired by Persian and Iznik pottery, and together they published the Encyclopédie des Arts Décoratifs de l'Orient — issued in a limited edition of 500 — which became a foundational reference for French designers, ceramicists, and architects of the period. This large hand-colored drawing, bearing Collinot's own studio blind stamp, documents a glass mosque lamp of the type produced in Cairo for Mamluk and Ottoman-era mosques — objects characterized by enameled Arabic calligraphy, arabesques, and medallion ornament of the kind visible here in cobalt blue, red, and gilt. The lamp belonged to Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827–1905), head of the French branch of the Rothschild dynasty and among the most significant collectors of his generation, whose holdings spanned Islamic art, Old Masters, and the finest European decorative arts. That Collinot's studio documented this specific object places the drawing at the intersection of two remarkable 19th-century phenomena: the Orientalist collecting mania of the French haute bourgeoisie, and the design reform movement that looked to Islamic art as the antidote to Western decorative exhaustion.
CONDITION: Good; age-appropriate handling and toning to paper. Unframed.