Almond Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Stylized Animal Relief

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Almond Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Stylized Animal Relief

East Christian / Byzantine

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: medium coarse red clay. Base diameter: 2.3 cm. Munsell: 2.5 YR 5/4 reddish brown
height 3.8 cm
length 10.5 cm
width 7.6 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #61, PSU 023

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This almond-shaped lamp has a highly decorated surface with raised line figures of animals. There is also a raised keyhole design encircling the large fill hole and extending to the pierced wick hole. The handle is pyramidal and sits at the back of the rim. Shape: Almond-shaped body (slipper lamp) with flat base; vertical triangular handle opposite wick hole at tip of almond; large central fill hole. Decoration: Relief decoration on top; fill hole surrounded by raised lip; ridge surrounding hole and extending down to include wick hole. Other raised ridges enclose handle. Row of five raised dots at juncture of handle and body; groove in top of handle. Area between fill hole and wick hole with curvilinear geometric design.  On each shoulder, relief decoration consisting of four stylized outline animal figures.  Two quadrupeds facing each other, blanked by a bird and a fish. Inscriptions: None.  Condition: Intact; very minor chips; some encrustation and whitish residue; burning around wick hole and on underside; condition overall good.

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.