Late Roman Byzantine rounded lamp with large mirror (Late Roman - Byzantine)

Late Roman Byzantine rounded lamp with large mirror

Matte white clay. The round lamp body widens on one side to a short snout with a narrow wick hole. On the opposite side of the lamp the imprint of a simple handle knob has been preserved. The double conical vessel wall encloses the lower circular mirror with a large central filling hole. A safe stand is ensured by the slightly curved underside with a circumferential, clearly set-off standing ledge. The mirror, the base of the lamp and the bottom of the snout bear a simple geometric relief decoration. The filling hole is enclosed by a radially ribbed circle, around which a frieze of ovoli with punctiform core is applied. The wall of the vessel below the wick hole is decorated with a stylized palm branch. The base of the lamp is decorated by a circle with radial transverse ribs, inscribed with a five-part rosette with a central curl. As models of this lamp form, we can still clearly recognize Middle Imperial period lamps with a round snout. The central filling hole, together with the flattened handle knob (hump handle) and the snout, which as such is no longer raised from the body, may be seen as characteristic of the Late Antique form variant. The Cologne lamp finds good parallels among the Cypriot and Knidic lamps of the 5th and 6th centuries compiled by D. Bailey, although most of these bear simpler radial rosette decoration on the mirror. The origin of the lamp type from the Asia Minor region is also indicated by the provenance of several Byzantine lamps in collections in Berlin, Paris and New York with a Christian consecration formula on the mirror and comparable relief decorations of cross loops and squares on the base. In the Levant region at the same time, lanterns without handles with a flattened, unstructured top and a contourless wick hole dominate. (Fless 1997: 123f.)

Height: 2,7 cm
Width: 7 cm
Length: 8,5 cm

Pottery, matte white clay

ID: O_25_u.re