Star Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Open Neck and Loop Handle

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Description: 

Star Shaped Terracotta Lamp with Open Neck and Loop Handle

terracotta
wheelmade/handmade, terracotta, fabric: coarse. Munsell: 10 YR 7/3 very pale brown to 2.5 YR 5/6 red (underside)
height 6.9 cm
width 12.7 cm
holes 4.8 cm

Portland State University Middle East Studies Center
Bogue Lamp Collection, Lamp ID #169, PSU 040 (69)

 

Professor Anne Nicogorski, Willamette University, cited with permission

This brown lamp is unique in shape, resembling a six-pointed star. At each one of the points is a pierced wick hole. The top of the lamp extends up in a wide, open neck which serves as the fill hole. The loop handle extends down from the top of the neck to the point of juncture with the body of the lamp. The whole appearance of the lamp is very crude. Shape: Round bodied lamp with disk base; rounded body profile; six short rounded nozzles radiating from body; raised neck in center with large opening/fill hole; small vertical handle from edge of neck to shoulder. Decoration: Traces of reddish slip. Inscriptions: None. Condition: Mostly intact; chips around rim and handle; small crack at rim; very heavily burnt, especially around wick holes; worn.
 

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.