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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.87
Title
Lamp with Cover
Classification
Lighting Devices
Work Type
lighting device
Date
1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period, Early
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304184

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.7 x 4.7 x 10.5 cm (2 1/4 x 1 7/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 75.22; Sn, 6.29; Pb, 17.87; Zn, 0.01; Fe, 0.04; Ni, 0.14; Ag, 0.07; Sb, 0.17; As, 0.19; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.016; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: Six of the seven lamps (1920.44.181, 1965.87, 1977.216.3406, 1977.216.3407, 1977.216.3423, 1978.495.32, and 1992.256.93) have mostly green patinas. 1977.216.3407 is mostly brown and black with areas of dark green. 1977.216.3423 has a large area of blue. 1978.495.32 and 1920.44.181 are more mineralized, and large lumps of raised corrosion products obscure the finer details of their surfaces. 1920.44.181 has lost the tip of its spout and much of its handle due to its fragile, mineralized condition.

All of the lamps except 1977.216.3406 were cast, presumably using a lost-wax technique. The interior surfaces generally conform to the exterior profiles, including the small feet, and it is likely that molds were used to form the wax models of the main portions of these lamps. The perfectly circular central elements may be the result of using a wheel to create the original models from which the wax casting molds were made. These shapes were then altered manually to form the spouts and decorative elements. The handles were probably added manually to the cast-wax body models. The rather substantial handle of 1965.87 could easily have been molded at the same time as the body of the lamp, although there is no indentation in the interior to prove this. The separately cast lid on this lamp is intact and held in place with an oversized—but seemingly original—copper alloy pin.

The bowl section of 1977.216.3406 is so thin and its interior surface is so smooth that it appears to have been raised rather than cast. Its thickness varies between 0.5 and 1.0 mm. An x-radiograph of the lamp reveals distinct hammer marks, which confirm that the surface was raised. The cast base is attached with lead solder. Its shape is perfectly circular, implying that its model was turned on a wheel. A projecting rim at the bottom of the base indicates that it was attached to a larger base section or mount. Solder is also present there and at a spot at the back of the lamp, where a handle had been attached but is now lost.

The exterior surface of 1920.44.181 has elongated fiber-shaped carbon inclusions embedded in its corrosion products. All of the lamps, except 1977.216.3406, appear to have oil residues mixed with accretions and corrosion products in their interiors.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Harry G. Friedman, gift; to the Fogg Museum, 1965.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Harry G. Friedman in memory of his son, Francis Lee Friedman
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.87
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This complete, round lamp has a hinged shell-shaped cover over its fill hole, apparently with its original hinge pin. The lid would have been lifted by the raised point at the front. The volute nozzle is separated from the reservoir on the underside. The wick hole is heart-shaped. The central pour hole (1.74 cm in diameter) is surrounded by a double rim. A round handle is attached to the upper half of the reservoir. A guard in the form of a two-lobed leaf rises from the back of the handle. The flat ring foot (3.43 cm maximum diameter) is sharply delineated from the body and is concave in the center.

The lamp is small and would have burned for about 20 minutes, which would be appropriate for a votive. It is typical of pieces dated to the first century CE (1), although bronze and terracotta examples of the type persisted in use in through the second century.

NOTES:

1. See N. Valenza Mele, Catalogo delle lucerne in bronzo: Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Napoli (Rome, 1981) 29, nos. 43-46, type 6, which she relates to an example from the Mahdia shipwreck that is precisely dated to the second century BCE. In the first century CE, the type began to include a decorative element over the handle, such as the one seen on the Harvard example. For a similar example whose hinge is preserved but is missing its lid, see M. Conticello de’ Spagnolis and E. De Carolis, Le lucerne di bronzo, Musei della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Inventari e Studi 1 (Vatican City, 1986) 17, no. 2, from Ostia, dated to the first century CE. For the origin and diffusion of the type and Julio-Claudian examples with two nozzles, see ibid., 41-43.


Jane Ayer Scott

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/17/2017 - 05/08/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Roman Domestic Art

Related Digital Tours

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu