LOT 0846

Roman Oil Lamp with Leda and The Swan

2ND CENTURY A.D.

4 in. (77 grams, 10.3 cm).

A Roman North African terracotta oil lamp with grooved ring handle; discus decorated with the mythological scene depicting Leda and the swan embracing.

Dr Suzanne Gozlan, thence by descent.
Suzanne Gozlan (1921-2022), a doctor of History and Archaeology, served as a professor at the Ecole Normale d'Instituteurs de Chartres and lectured at the University of Paris 4 Sorbonne.
Property of a Bristol, UK, gentleman.

Cf. a similar lamp in Jean Bussiere and Birgitta Lindros Wohl, Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum, item 358.

In Greek mythology, Leda was the wife of King Tyndareus and queen of Sparta. According to the myth, Zeus, the king of the gods, was captivated by Leda's beauty and appeared before her in the form of a swan. He then either raped or seduced her and impregnated her. The same night, Leda slept with her husband who also impregnated her, as a result of these two unions she laid two eggs, each containing one set of twins. According to later Greek mythology Leda bore Helen (of Troy) and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband.