D.M. Bailey, Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. 2 - Roman Lamps (London, 1980).

D.M. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. 3 - Roman Provincial Lamps (London, 1988).

J. Bussière and B. Lindros Wohl, Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, 2017).

2017.08

Roman Lamp

Purchased in Syria and on loan from Emeritus Professor Graeme Clarke

Length 9cm; width 6cm; height  2.5cm

Intact, in good condition; minor chipping and discoloration. Mould-made lamp decorated with raised globules and a lyre at the point where the angular nozzle, flanked by volutes, meets the lamp body. Sunken filling hole surrounded by a raised ridge. Knob handle, flat base with circular central groove. Traces of red slip.

The distinctive volute nozzle displayed on this lamp first became popular during the Augustan period. The volute style, initially an Italian innovation, spread all over the Roman Empire through trade, or through copying by provincial manufacturers (J. Bussière and B. Lindros Wohl, Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, 2017) 64).  

The raised globules and lyre that decorate this lamp are examples of a great variety of designs open to lamp makers, and the decision of which to choose was perhaps influenced by the perceived tastes of local markets. There is, however, little evidence that the general buying public paid particular attention to lamp decorations when choosing what to purchase (D.M. Bailey, Catalogue of theLamps in the British Museum, vol. 2 (London, 1980) 6), being perhaps more influenced by price and functionality.

For examples of other lamps of the Levant region displaying the volute nozzle type, see D.M. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. 3 (London, 1988) pl. 57.

On loan from Emeritus Professor Graeme Clarke