Delphiniform Terracotta Lamp with Volute Relief on Handle

Access image
Description: 

Delphiniform Terracotta Lamp with Volute Relief on Handle

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine with some inclusions. Munsell: 7.5 YR 6/6 reddish yellow
height 3 cm
length 8.9 cm
width 5.6 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #300, PSU 122 (146)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This tan, delphiniform lamp is void of any decoration save on the pointed nozzle. The relief of a vase is in the area between the ridges on the nozzle. The point of juncture between the two halves appears as a crack. Shape: Round-bodied lamp with disk base; rounded body profile; small concave discus with central fill hole; extended flaring nozzle, rounded at the end; solid triangular side lug on right side (nozzle pointing up). Decoration: Relief decoration on top consisting of circular ridge around fill hole; pair of volutes flanking nozzle, curling at edge of discus, forming depressed channel on nozzle axis; stylized sistrum (?) on nozzle axis. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Intact; cracked between upper and lower halves; minor chips; burning around wick hole.

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.