Object Description
A fine, late Roman-Early Byzantine terracotta oil lamp, featuring an elongated oval body and rounded channelled nozzle. The sunken, ovoid discus is decorated with a square-in-square panel, filled with a geometric design. The innermost square is filled with raised pellets, separated by ridges into two bands, surrounding a central pellet within a diamond border. The middle square has been rotated, while the outermost and largest square mirrors the orientation of the smallest square, creating a series of triangular segments on each side of the squares. These triangular segments are filled with a chevron design, radiating out of a small, vertical ridge at the centre of each side, resembling a concentric design. Two filling holes flank the panel to the left and right, and pairs of spirals at each corner further enrich the discus. A raised ridge encircles the discus and extends outwards towards the nozzle hole, forming a broad channel on the rounded spout. The shoulders of the lamp are decorated on both sides with a series of alternating circular and square motifs. The decorations begin and finish with a circular motif, resembling a flower, with a segmented band surrounding a concentric centre. This is followed by a square stamp, divided into quarters, with each quarter filled with four raised pellets. The Chi-Rho symbol, flanked by six pellets, three on each side, and surrounded by a raised circular border, completes the trio of stamps, which is repeated twice on both shoulders. The spike-like lug handle, flattened on each side, sits at the top of the lamp. The entire lamp sits on a raised ring base.
This lamp is a fine example of the group of North African lamps produced in Terra Sigillata Africana (TSA), and was likely moulded in the Roman provinces of North Africa, present-day central Tunisia. It can be classified as type Atlante X, Hayes II A.
Date: Circa 4th-5th Century AD