Roman Terracotta Oil Lamp with Frontal Bust

2ND CENTURY A.D.

4 in. (63 grams, 10.2 cm).

With brown slip, loop handle to the rear, the discus with a facing bust of a young woman within a concentric circle border; maker's mark 'LCΛPΓ' within tabula ansata-shaped stamp.

Provenance

Acquired on the European art market, 1980s.
English private collection.

Literature

See The Getty Museum, inv.no.83.AQ.377.205, for similar discus motif by a different maker in Bussière, J., Lindros Wohl, B., Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 2017, no.292, p.204, type Loeschcke VIII; Bussière form D II 1.

Footnotes

The discus decorations of these lamps are various: Diana, Dioscuri, Sol and Luna, Africa, Lares, and griffin; portraits of Domitian, Hadrian, male head, bust of a young man, bust of a young woman (our specimen), bust of a bearded old man, fisherman, and an aulete; scorpion, boar, and lion with crocodile; etc. They were an African production and not less than seven worskshops have been individuated: M N O V I V, M N O V I V S T (our case) , M N O V I V S T I , I V N I A L E X I, C C O R V R S , E X F N A / LV C C E I O R V M . Here we can add LCAPIT (Lucius Capito).

CONDITION

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LOT 0756