1977.216.2918: Lamp

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1977.216.2918

Title

Lamp

Classification

Lighting Devices

Work Type

lighting device

Date

2nd century BCE-1st century CE

Period

Roman Republican period, Late, to Early Imperial

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289714

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Mold-made

Dimensions

2.2 x 5.5 x 8.2 x 0.6 cm (7/8 x 2 3/16 x 3 1/4 x 1/4 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Bequest of Henry W. Haynes, 1912

Accession Year

1977

Object Number

1977.216.2918

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Square-bodied lamp covered with red varnish. Body of lamp is square with walls tapering down to a narrower base. Crudely manufactured and undecorated. Neck tapers towards the body, but grows wider at the mouth. Small hole in flat-surfaced mouth. Filling hole in body is small, with two concentric circles carved around it. Bottom of base is stamped with long and narrow (foot shaped?) mark. Whitish spots on underside where varnish has worn off.

Commentary

LIVE LIKE A ROMAN: DAILY LIFE OBJECT COLLECTION

Artificial lighting in the Roman Empire was accomplished with torches, candles and lamps. Torches were used outdoors, while candles made of wax were used mainly in areas that did not have olive oil. Lamps were the most common means of light, used all over the Empire, but especially where oil was produced or imported.

Lamps range from decorative to functional, though all utilize the same basic features. The oil chamber inside holds the fuel, while the hole at the top is for filling. There is usually a nozzle and a wick-hole for wicks that were made of fibrous materials, most often linen. Lamps themselves could be made in bronze, lead, iron, gold, silver, glass, or stone. However, the most common construction material for lamps was pottery. Though they could be made by hand or on a potter's wheel, they were most often constructed in molds.

First, the maker would construct a clay archetype of the lamp that would be solid, not hollow. Then a plaster mold would be made of the archetype. The mold would often be two parts, an upper and lower part, that wet clay could be pressed into to make a new lamp. When the clay was leather-hard, additional decorations, stamps, or handles could be added, and the wick and filling holes were pierced. A coat of slip was put on before the lamp would be fired in a kiln.

Lamps were distributed both by local workshops and by export from specialty workshops. There is some archaeological evidence for specific names of workshops and their trade routes, but still much is unknown about these factories. Sometimes makers left marks on the bottom of their lamps, which can help archaeologists in determining where the lamp was originally from.

This lamp is square in shape and completely undecorated. It is probably from a slightly earlier date than most other lamps in this collection, perhaps as early as the second century BCE. It shows that lamps could be very basic and were not always decorated.

[Jessica Pesce 8/5/10]

Subjects and Contexts

• Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level