Round Terracotta Lamp with Volute Relief

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Description: 

Round Terracotta Lamp with Volute Relief

terracotta: mold-made, fabric: very fine clay. Munsell: 10 YR 8/3 very pale brown
height 2.4 cm
length 6.5 cm
width 5.5 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #197, PSU 076 (103)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This small molded lamp is basically circular in form. The short, broad nozzle is voluted. The recessed discus is void of any decoration save a border of simple lines. A portion of the discus next to the centrally pierced fill hole is missing. There is also a small hole in one side. Shape: Round bodied lamp with concave base partially outlined by a groove; straight angled side walls; carinated near top; broad concave discus with small central fill hole; short triangular nozzle, rounded at tip. Decoration: Possible traces of red-orange slip.  Relief decoration on top consisting of volutes on either side of wick hole that extend into circlea on the shoulder and ridges on the sides; band of short radiating alternating grooves and ridges at outer edge of discus, surrounded by groove and ridge. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Mostly complete; small hole in side; larger hole in discus; very worn and discolored; greenish discoloration on discus (from contact with some bronze object?); broken pieces inside, not all belonging to lamp; some burning around nozzle.

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.