Late Roman Terracotta Lamp with Christian Fish

5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

5 3/4 in. (146 grams, 14.5 cm).

Low discus with two filler holes flanking a low-relief fish in profile, a band of arched fish to the shoulder, lug handle to the rear and a low basal ring.

Provenance

Private collection, Tokyo, Japan, 1980s.
Private European collection, 2010.

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 0128