Roman Buffware Slipper Oil Lamp

CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

3 3/4 in. (78 grams, 94 mm).

Moulmade with large handle; squat pear-shaped body, open discus with large central filling hole surrounded by two rows of radiating lines and ridge that forms a narrow channel to the nozzle; base decorated with a stylised Chrismon. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Lighfoot, C.S., The Cesnola collection of Cypriot Art - Terracotta Oil Lamps, cat.430, p.325, for the type.

Footnotes

The type belongs probably to a variant of so-called Late Ephesian Lamps, i.e. lamps of Asia Minor. Late Ephesian type lamps have very characteristic underbodies. Several examples have an impressed circular mark, for example a cross formed of four vertically placed small circles with two more placed horizontally, or a Chi Rho, like in this example.

CONDITION

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LOT 0898