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LOT 0567

Estimate
GBP (£) 300 - 400
EUR (€) 350 - 460
USD ($) 400 - 540

ROMAN REDWARE LAMP WITH RADIATE HEAD OF SERAPIS
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
4 3/4 in. (145 grams, 12.2 cm wide).

Comprising a squat body with thick nozzle and lug handle, band of leaves and bunches of grapes to the discus, surrounding a bust of Serapis with modius and radiate crown; maker's initials to the underside 'S. S. L.'.

PROVENANCE:
Ex London gallery 1980s.
From the collection of a deceased Lancashire gentleman.

LITERATURE:
See Bussière, J., Lindros Wohl, B., Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 2017, p.349, for the type, close to the Atlante VI.

FOOTNOTES:
Serapis was a Graeco-Egyptian god, whose cult was popularised during the 3rd century B.C. on the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt, to facilitate the religious syncretism of his kingdom. During the Roman Empire his image was widely diffused in the east, and the image of Zeus-Serapis was often fitted with the radiate crown, linking it with the cult of Sol Invictus; the position as the main divinity of the Roman Pantheon strengthened by Lucius Domitius Aurelian (270-275 A.D.).

CONDITION
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