Almond Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Water Fowl Relief

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Description: 

Almond Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Water Fowl Relief

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine and gritty. Munsell: burnt
height 4.2 cm
length 8.0 cm
width 5.7 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #285, PSU 190 (196)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This small black almond-shaped lamp was glazed on top and bottom. It bears a keyhole design around the large fill hole and to and around the large pierced wick hole. There is also other decoration consisting of reliefs of waterfowl on the edges of the top. The Large handle is of a modified pyramidal type and sits over the rear of the lamp. The sides of the lamp are straight and boat-like. Shape: Almond-shaped lamp with flat base with slight almond-shaped ridge at outer edge and slight circular ridge in center; carinated body profile; large central fill hole; wick hole at pointed end of body; solid vertical incurving handle. Decoration: Glaze on all surfaces, dribbling on underside; blackened but with greenish tint (originally green glaze?). Relief decoration on top consisting of keyhole-shaped ridge encompassing fill hole and wick hole, forming depressed channel on nozzle axis; three waterfowl on each shoulder, outlined by semi-circular ridges; curved object above each bird (flying fish?); tendrils and floral motifs. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Intact; minor chips; worn; extremely heavily burnt all over.

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.