1932.56.77: Lamp with Chi-Rho Monogram

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1932.56.77

Title

Lamp with Chi-Rho Monogram

Classification

Lighting Devices

Work Type

lighting device

Date

4th-7th century CE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World

Period

Roman Imperial period, Late

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/291909

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Mold-made

Dimensions

H. 2.8 × W. 5.3 × H. 9 cm (1 1/8 × 2 1/16 × 3 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1932.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894

Accession Year

1932

Object Number

1932.56.77

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Mold-made, terracotta lamp: oval body with long nozzle, now broken, with wide shallow channel between the wick hole and the filling hole; traces of burning on the mouth. The handle is grooved and unpierced. shoulders decorated with a groove pattern forming a circle around the area of the filling-hole; the filling-hole area is decorated with the Chi-Rho symbol, flanked by two filling holes. The lamp stands on a flat base within which is impressed a loop-like groove that extends towards the rear of the lamp and a circle within the loop, possibly a makers' mark.

Classification: Hayes, Type I.

Commentary

An oil lamp is a lighting device, which is fueled by oil, typically from olives. Roman lamps are typically made of either terracotta or bronze and are mold-made. Typically the body is round and closed on top and there is a nozzle with a pick. Terracotta lamps are usually decorated with a wide variety of motifs. In houses, lamps may have stood on the top of a candelabrum (See: 1960.482) to light a room.

This African Red Slipware lamp is identified as the Hayes Type I, characterized by its broad nozzle-channel, unpierced handle, simple decoration, and grooved shoulders (1). It is likely that this shape originated in Tunisia and dated finds are no earlier than the end of the fourth century CE. A second, similar shape (Hayes Type II) is found into the seventh century CE and display a smooth handle, base-ring, and level shoulders, among other distinctions (2).

The single circle mark on the bottom of the lamp is found on other Tunisian lamps. The frequent occurence on these lampe suggests that mark is decorative rather than a makers mark (3). In addition to the lamps made in Tunisia, there exist lamps made in Italy, but modelled on imported, African Red Slip Ware with a Chi Rho decoration (4).

Notes:
1. D. Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, vol. III (British Museum Publications, 1988) no. Q1732-1750.

2. For an example of a lamp that is considered Hayes I/II see Bailey, vol. III, no. Q1751; for Hayes Type II see nos. Q1754ff.

3. For other examples of this mark see Bailey vol. III no. Q1745, Q1766.

4. Bailey, vol. II Type S, p. 383; no. Q1431.

Exhibition History

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 04/24/1947 - 07/01/1947

Subjects and Contexts

• Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level