Ovoid Terracotta Lamp with Skull Relief

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Description: 

Ovoid Terracotta Lamp with Skull Relief

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine clay with some inclusions. Munsell 10 R 5/6 red
height 3.1 cm
length 8.6 cm
width 5.6 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #75, PSU 136 (158)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This red lamp is basically ovoid in shape. The wick hole is pierced at one end and projects only slightly. The top is void of any decoration and has two pierced fill holes. The pierced handle has a relief of a skeletal head on top. The entire lamp is very crudely made. Shape: Ovoid lamp with flat base; flat, slightly concave upper surface with two small fill holes on axis between handle and wick hole; wick hole consists of small spout-like opening, barely projecting from body; pierced vertical handle. Decoration: No slip. Sketchy relief of skeletal head on top of handle; diagonal hatching along part of edge of upper surface. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Intact; fairly good condition. Unevenly fired.

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.