Late Roman Terracotta Lamp with Chi Rho

LATE 5TH-EARLY 6TH CENTURY A.D.

5 1/2 in. (173 grams, 13.9 cm).

Recessed discus with two filler holes flanking a low-relief letter rho with cruciform stave, lozenge detailing; band of concentric circles and arrowheads on the rim, lug handle and a low basal ring.

Provenance

Private collection, acquired in 1994; thence by descent.

Literature

For these lamps (Atlante type X; Hayes type II) cf. Bussière, J., Lindros Wohl, B., Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 2017, p.352ff., for the type.

Footnotes

The so-called Christian lamps in Terra Sigillata Africana (TSA) have been classified by Hayes into two major types, I and II. Lamps of Hayes types I and II, initially produced in Tunisia only, were broadly exported, then imitated throughout the Roman Empire for three centuries; consequently, they are extremely numerous.

CONDITION

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LOT 0129