Your link is to one of four
lamps in an exhibition (weirdly entitled "
Sex and Violence in the Ancient World: Gender, Sexuality, and Warfare from 2000 BC - 400 AD") at Mercer University, a private university in Georgia, USA. Here is a link to all four
lamps:
http://libraries.mercer.edu/repository/handle/10898/373/discoverNever ever trust the authenticity of items simply because they are being exhibited in a university. A degree in
History very often has no bearing whatsoever on an ability to authenticate
antiquities and, in this case, I can only shake my
head in disbelief at the sheer gullibility of both the collectors who loaned the
lamps and the curator who accepted the loan for their so-called exhibition.
ALL FOUR of the four
lamps are not only
fakes; they are basic tourist-grade
fakes that should not fool anyone.
I have no idea if the
Roman coins in their exhibition are also
fake or not. Perhaps someone here could shed some light?
http://libraries.mercer.edu/repository/handle/10898/393-------------
The
fake "Hathor
Type"
lamp is also included in another exhibition (named "The Divine Image in Everyday Life: Religion in the Ancient Near East") along with yet two more well-known
fakes:
http://libraries.mercer.edu/repository/handle/10898/96 At least one of them is recognisable as coming from a certain
notorious dealer in NYC (
http://www.sadighgallery.com/Oil-Lamps_p_36424.html).
But the collectors seem to have struck lucky with these:
http://libraries.mercer.edu/repository/handle/10898/99I suppose the law of averages dictates that even they can get it right occasionally! (Though what the four plain 'saucer'
lamps have to do with the "Divine Image" is beyond me.)
-------------
Sadly, the similarity of your own "Hathor
Type"
lamp to that in the exhibition is not uncanny at all. These well-known
fakes have been made since about 1870 and are
still being made today. Over that time they have been produced in huge numbers and there has been some variation but they all share basic characteristics.
> how can you tell [these
lamps are
fake]?
The form,
fabric, finish,
handle, nozzle and decoration of "Hathor
Type"
lamps are an anachronistic mish-mash from different periods (no wonder dealers find them difficult to date!) and they bear no relation to any authentic
lamp. Despite their massive
abundance on
eBay and elsewhere, not one single one of them has ever been found in an archaeological excavation (unsurprisingly!), and they are
still being manufactured in enormous quantities to sell to gullible tourists today.
The "Hathor
Type"
fake has been classified as
part of the "Upper
Egypt Group of
Fakes" by the British Museum (
BMC, Q3463-5). There are two examples shown here (F3 and F4):
http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/fakes/fakes1.shtml