Head Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Extended Nozzle

Access image
Description: 

Head Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Extended Nozzle

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine with some minor inclusions. Munsell: 5 YR 5/6 yellowish red
height 3.1 cm
length 6.4 cm
width 3.7 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #274, PSU 079 (106)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This small lamp is unique in that it is in the shape of a human head. It bears the full likeness of a face. The pointed nozzle is formed from an extension from the chin. The fill hole is pierced in the upper forehead. Shape: Plastic lamp in the form of a human head; flat base offset by almond-shaped groove; pair of short diagonal grooves on either side of the nozzle on the underside of the body; small fill hole with irregular lip in forehead; nozzle extending from chin, splayed, with irregular lip. Decoration: Lamp in shape of a human head; African frontal face with short curly hair; furrowed brow; broad nose; grimacing mouth with both upper and lower teeth indicated; no ears. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Intact; some minor chips; some soil adhering.

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.