2007.104.19: Volute Lamp

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2007.104.19

Title

Volute Lamp

Classification

Lighting Devices

Work Type

lighting device

Date

30 BCE-50 CE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Carthage (North Africa)

Period

Roman Imperial period, Early

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/175533

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Mold-made

Dimensions

2.9 x 6.3 x 8.9 cm (1 1/8 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Said, in unpublished McDaniel Catalogue, to have been found at Carthage in 1923/24 by Horton O'Neil and given to McDaniel Collection in June 1967.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University

Accession Year

2007

Object Number

2007.104.19

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Buff fabric with brick-red slip, mottled on the side and chipped on discus. Fabric is fairly fine, and walls of the lamp are thin. Round reservoir with a high, curving, squared wall. Sunken flat discus with one central filling hole surrounded by two sets of two ridges. Tiny air hole on discus on line with nozzle. Narrow rim decorated with three ridges. The base is broad and flat. Channeled nozzle has single, delicate side volutes and a triangular tip. Some dirt incrustation.

Subjects and Contexts

• Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level