Byzantine Terracotta Slipper Oil Lamp

Comprising five oil lamps including slipper and discoid types with shaped ledge handles, each decorated with raised geometric motifs composed largely of pellets and plain lines. 337 grams total, 8.9-10.1 cm



Ex Y.M. collection, Tiberias, Israel. Private Swiss collection.

Some authors suggest that these 'candlestick' lamps were produced in or around Jerusalem: this has been confirmed by the discovery of a lamp workshop at Zuba, in which large candlestick lamps with a radiating pattern and their moulds were found. Based on evidence from the City of David and the Jewish Quarter, these lamps begin to appear in the mid-6th century and continue throughout the 7th century A.D.

Composed of a slender carinated hoop adorned with filigree supporting a hollow-formed star-shaped bezel set with central polished cabochon garnet and granules, each of six arms pierced, remaining granule to one shoulder. 1.76 grams, 23.61 mm overall, 20.80 mm internal diameter (approximate size British S 1/2, USA 9 1/4, Europe 20.63, Japan 19)



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

Corner piece with polished face; an old handwritten label to the side reading 'Stone from "Ananiani's" house Damascus May 1861'. 182 grams, 82 mm



Found Damascus, Syria, in May 1861. UK private collection. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman. With a late 19th century handwritten identification label attached.

The Chapel of San Anania is a religious building located in a two-room crypt in Damascus, approximately four meters below the current street level, reachable by descending a staircase of twenty-three steps from the courtyard of a house that traditionally is attributed to Ananias, the Christian martyr who helped Saul (who became Paul the Apostle), baptised him and helped him hide and leave Damascus, after he had attracted the hatred of the Jews who had organised his killing. It is an apse of an Eastern Roman basilica from the 5th-6th century, cited several times by Arab historical sources such as al-Mussalabeh (of the Holy Cross), brought to light by the excavations carried out by the count Eustache de Lorey.