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Author Topic: Red Slip Oil Lamp Fragment with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima and Fingerprints  (Read 959 times)

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Offline v-drome

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Hi, all.  Here is a neat little oil lamp fragment with the head of Medusa.  The decorative type is close to the illustration in RomQ's collection (Knell type VA9), but the red-slip fabric is different and there is no way to match the shape of the lamp with so little remaining.  What is interesting about this piece is the wonderfully clear thumb print on the reverse, where the clay was pushed into the mould.  Are fingerprints hereditary?  Maybe we could narrow down the origin and ethnicity of the maker! ;D  Any ideas on the actual type of lamp and origin (N. Africa or Italy?) would be appreciated.  I realize it is difficult given the worn state of the finish.  Thanks, V-drome

BCC CG20
Decorated Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa
Caesarea Maritima
1st-2nd Century CE
Fragment of an Early Roman oil lamp consisting of the
central part of a discus decorated with the head of Medusa
facing, slightly to left.   
Fabric: Medium fine grained, light tan clay with red slip. 
Manufacture: Mould made.
Dimensions: 2.95 x 2.9 x 0.6cm.  Weight: 2.88gm.
Surface find Caesarea Maritima, 1977
(click for Larger pic)

cf. https://romq.com/lamps/database/lamp.php?32

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2021, 02:56:52 pm »
Nice.
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Offline SC

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2021, 05:58:23 pm »
CSI-Caesarea Maritima!

SC
SC
(Shawn Caza, Ottawa)

Offline Strobilus2

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2021, 07:16:26 am »
Sorry for the delay in responding. Life has been a bit chaotic recently!

I doubt that this is a discus fragment. The traces of red slip on the underside and the centralised fingerprint (thumbprint?) with clear border strongly suggest that this item is a broken 'Lampendeckel', a lamp lid.

These lids typically have a stem on the underside to fit into the filling-hole but I suspect that this example was the hinged type and originally had a hinge extension (now missing) above the head of Medusa.

Probably an Italian product of the late 1st to early 2nd centuries AD. There are several of them illustrated in Schäfer 1990, 77-82. I attach screenprints of two examples in the British Museum.

Not of huge commercial value but I personally find these lamp lids very interesting and if you could ever bear to part with it, please send me a PM.

David

David Knell

Offline v-drome

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2021, 10:41:19 pm »
Very interesting!  I did not know these existed.  I have a few more similar objects that I will post soon.  Perhaps you can let me know if you think they are also lids, as opposed to parts of the discus.

Jimi

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2021, 11:25:24 pm »
I missed this.  What an amazing piece. 

Offline v-drome

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2021, 07:25:46 pm »
Thank you Shawn and Jay.  David, here are three more objects from the same area.  Let me know if you think they are parts of the discus, or if they could be lamp lids, and if they also represent Medusa.  The third one, BCC CG23, has what appears to be the remains of a filler hole at the bottom, so I am pretty sure about that one.  With regard to the original object in the first post, BCC CG20, the edge above the face is quite thin, and I am wondering if it would have been strong enough to support a hinge.  Could the red slip on the underside just be contamination from the maker's thumb?  This piece has a lot of erosion and wear from exposure, so it is hard to know for certain what the edge originally looked like.  I will try to get a good photo of the edge to add to this post.  I would also consider sending it to you if you think inspecting it in-hand would be helpful. 

Thanks, again.  Jimi

Offline Strobilus2

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Discus with Medusa from Caesarea Maritima
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2021, 07:20:27 pm »
I'm amazed at your talent for finding not only discus fragments - but always discus fragments with faces on them! No animals, standing figures, objects, etc.? :)

Yes, that is almost certainly part of a filling-hole on BCC CG23, confirming the fragment is from a discus, and I imagine the other two fragments are also from discuses.

Since the edge above the face is quite thin on BCC CG20, that fragment may be from a discus too. It seems unlikely to have been hinged if the edge is so thin and, as I say, lids typically have a stem on the underside - though the traces of red slip on the underside and the centralised fingerprint with clear border are strange for a discus fragment.

David
David Knell

Offline v-drome

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Re: Red Slip Oil Lamp Fragment with Medusa from Caesarea with Fingerprints
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2021, 09:19:51 pm »
Thank you so much, David.  I was looking for more examples of terracotta lamps with "Lamp-lid" on Google last night and I found some others, including a complete one with the hinged lid still attached, from Antioch.  Very cool!  I also came across an amazing, short article about fingerprints from a lamp factory in Beit Nattif, Israel, which showed how the mould was packed and that the same person made many of them.  Here is a link with PDF download:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/ancient-fingerprints-from-beit-nattif-studying-late-roman-clay-impressions-on-oil-lamps-and-figurines/242426A0AC1A51E6A44ACD238B84C7D4

These small fragments, that no one else seemed to notice or care about, were some of my favorite things to come across.  I posted a couple others back in 2013, before you joined.  Here are the links, in case you would like to see them.

Best regards, Jimi

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=92051.0
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=88208.0
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=124134
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=123967

Offline Strobilus2

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Many thanks for posting the link to that PDF about fingerprints, Jimi. Fingerprints are very common on mould-made lamps since the clay was of course pressed into the moulds but not often seen unless the lamp is broken since they are internal.

It's about time they were studied and it's particularly interesting that some fingerprints seem to match.

I was of course kidding about you only finding discus fragments with faces on them. You have a nice assortment. It must have been such an amazing experience to find them on the beach!

David
David Knell

 

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