Frog Style Terracotta Lamp with Checker and Frog Relief

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Description: 

Frog Style Terracotta Lamp with Checker and Frog Relief

terracotta: mold-made. Fabric: medium coarse reddish clay. Munsell: 5YR 6/6 reddish yellow
height 3.9 cm
length 10 cm
width 8.5 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #66, PSU 031bis (56)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This light tan lamp is another frog lamp. It is basically semi-circular in shape with a short fluted nozzle resembling a neck. The pierced fill hole is recessed in the center of the top. The "back" of the frog has evolved into a checked design but the rear legs of the frog are recognizable.  There is a distinct potters mark on the bottom. Shape: Rounded, slightly heart-shaped body with flat base and extended nozzle with slightly triangular termination; central fill hole in concave discus. Decoration: Frog lamp. Hind legs indicated opposite nozzle; fields of checkerboard pattern on either side. Two volutes at juncture of body and nozzle; on axis between fill hole and nozzle hole -- raised palm pattern with three raised knobs; incised line setting off end of nozzle. Inscriptions: Potter's mark on base within a grooved circle. Condition: Intact. Minor surface chips and cracks; slip mostly worn away.

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.