A Caravanserai is a roadside inn, consisting of a series of adjacent portals which share common walls that open to the front and face onto a large courtyard. The modern equivalent would be a motel. These windblown and weatherbeaten structures were spaced along the desert caravan routes. Omar pictures this series of adjacent alternating doorways, through which those staying would enter at dusk and leave at daybreak, as symbolizing alternating nights and days in endless succession. Sojourners who temporarily enter and leave are superimposed over imagery of life and death and the transitoriness of life.  “. . . how sultan after sultan with his pomp, abode his hour or two then went his way. ” This lamp is a contemporary interpretation on these verses.

The Caravanserai Lamp is the first of a series of table lamps. The imagery of this lamp is minimalist and highly stylized. Suggestive illustrations are made using steel outlines. There are suggestions of a pathway or trail leading towards a series of interconnected doorways that extend above a roadway leading upwards from the bottom. These are staggered to form a series of steps. Above this, and off to one side, is a rising full moon or sun, trailing beams of light. In the opposite upper corner is a balcony that extends out over the cluster of buildings or doorways. In front of this is a courtyard with a small campfire burning, flanked by gateposts. The overall styling of the lamp suggests an inspiration reminiscent of Jazz Moderne Moorish Revival. In keeping with the Rubaiyat, the imagery of the lamp suggests symbolic aspects of a caravanserai which would have included a gate, a courtyard, a fire and a moon overhead. The fabric has a strong Moorish flavor, which depicts a starry sky with images of the crescent moon. The finish of the lamp is a dark powdercoat of midnight blue.