Round Terracotta Lamp with Relief of Woman Holding a Pot on her Head

Round Terracotta Lamp with Relief of Woman Holding a Pot on her Head

ca. 150-250 CE?

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: fine clay. Munsell: 2.5 YR 5/6 red
height 3.4 cm
length 7.8 cm
width 5.3 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #200, PSU 071 (98)

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This brown lamp is circular in form. The nozzle is medium and the pierced handle is fairly erect. The discus is decorated with the standing figure of a woman or goddess holding a pot on her head. The eccentrically pierced wick hole (sic: should be fill hole) has had some poor repairing done around it. Shape: Round bodied lamp with flat base; straight angled sides, carinated at top; broad concave discus with small off-center fill hole; short rounded nozzle; high swung pierced vertical handle at rear, flattened on top with a pair of ridges running from underside of handle to edge of base. Decoration: Relief decoration on top consisting of small bosses on shoulder, on either side of handle attachment; three small bosses at juncture of body and spout; two parallel grooves on top of handle. Relief decoration on discus consisting of seated frontal figure in center, with upraised left arm and lowered right arm; drapery on body; headdress (possible polos); two parallel horizontal ridges pass behind head; curved lines on either side of figure’s feet (fish? landscape?). Inscriptions: None. Condition: Mostly complete; broken and repaired around fill hole; slightly encrusted; basically good condition; slight burning around wick hole.