Celtic Iron Lamp with Bull's Head

1ST CENTURY B.C.

27 in. (322 grams, 68.5 cm).

Elongated bowl-shaped lamp with pinched nozzle to accept the wick; tall curved handle with stylised bull's head finial, with a hole in the middle and a hook attached to the rounded muzzle; two lateral curved horns; chain composed of six straight links connected by hooks and loops.

Provenance

with Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Munich, Auction 254, 13 February 2008, no.421.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13522-263139.

Literature

cf. for a similar lamp Eisenberg, J., Art of the Ancient World, 2010, New York, 1965, no.179.

Footnotes

These kinds of boat-shaped Danubian Celtic lamps were hanging oil lamps fitted with a hanging shaft with knot decoration with horns, imitating the head of a bull, characterised by a curved end with an S-shaped hook.

CONDITION

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LOT 2079