Frog Style Terracotta Lamp with Frog and Herringbone Relief

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Description: 

Frog Style Terracotta Lamp with Frog and Herringbone Relief

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine. Munsell: 7.5 YR 5/4 brown
height 3.3 cm
length 7.5 cm
width 6.3 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #321, PSU C-186

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

Possible forgery? odd surface stain, very sharp and simple design, perfectly round pierced holes. Shape: Round-bodied lamp with nearly flat base set off by circular groove; sharply carinated body profile; concave discus with very small central fill hole; short extended nozzle, rounded at end; slightly offset wick hole. Decoration: Traces of reddish slip. Frog lamp. Relief decoration on top consisting of pair of hind legs opposite nozzle; pair of forelegs; between legs, pairs of bands of herringbone pattern; pairs of incised lines on either side of nozzle axis; ladder pattern on nozzle axis. Inscriptions: Potter's mark on base (palm branch). Condition: Intact; burnt around wick hole; curious brown stain covering whole underside and most of top.

Protocol: 
Portland State University Middle East Studies Center - Public Access
Community: 
Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Category: 
Ceramics, Utilitarian Objects
Keywords: 
Lamp
Rights: 
Image reproduced with permission from Portland State University Middle East Studies Center. The institutions that house the specific Medieval Portland objects ultimately hold the rights to their image and reproduction; the images are provided here as a courtesy by those institutions and are for non-profit, educational use only.