Research Oil lamp informations

[frederic]

Hi,
Could you give me some informations on this oil lamp. the dealer can say me it's come from north africa, found by an archeologist. I have no date, no local origin.

Thank you
and best regards

Frederic

[Strobilus]

I have no doubt that your lamp is authentic. It is an example of the 'warzenlampe' variety (those with raised dots as principle decoration) of a local type derived from 'firmalampen', made in North Africa (Africa Proconsularis) during the 2nd century AD.

See Deneauve 1033 for a related example.

[seth]

i said id be back with some references. iam sorry it took so long.
the book is in romanian and is called (eng trans) - "greek and roman lamps", by c. iconomu, published by the constanta museum in 1967.
he calls them type XXVIII - lamps with granular decoration on margins, and dates the examples found in the black sea area, through the information provided by archaeological context, from the early 5th to early 6th century AD. he also notes most of the examples found in this area are of north-african provenance.

[Strobilus]

Hi Seth,

Although the lamps shown in your reference may look vaguely similar to the lamp shown by the OP (Frederic), they are actually very different. The "pattern on the margins" (raised dot decoration) is merely a superficial similarity.

The three lamps indicated in your reference (Figs. 49, 50 and 159) are typical examples of lamps made in western Asia Minor (the Ephesus area) during the 5th to 6th centuries AD - the Byzantine period. They are very distinctive and immediately recognisable.

The lamp shown by the OP was, as I said, made in North Africa around the 2nd century AD - the Roman period and much earlier than those Asia Minor lamps despite the similar decoration.

(Examples of North African lamps are shown as Figs. 51, 52 and 161 in your reference but they are later types and of an entirely different style.)

By the way, I've been after a copy of Iconomu for some time. If you come across any please let me know.

[seth]

hello david

well, iconomu dates the ones ive shown in the pics as being of north african provenance, 5th-6th century. i mean he could be wrong also, his work dates back from 1967.
iam on vacantion for the next 2-3weeks, but when i get back home, i got the book, i guess i could pdf it and email it to you. the problem is that its in romanian so you might find it difficult to read.
just leave me a pm and i shall send you a copy.

[Strobilus]

Hi Seth,

The three lamps you indicated (Figs. 49, 50 and 159 - all Type XXVIII) are definitely Asia Minor types, not North African.

Your images show the illustrations of the Type XXVIII lamps but not the heading text for them (only the heading text for the North African lamps which follow them - Types XXIX and XXX. Are you sure you're not getting confused?). It would be interesting to see the heading text for Type XXVIII and what Iconomu says about them.

Iconomu illustrates the lamps AFTER the text - so presumably the heading text for the Type XXVIII lamps would be on the previous page?

I would be delighted to have a PDF of Iconomu. Many thanks for the offer! I don't know Romanian but since it appears to be a Latin-based language I imagine I could get the gist. I've sent you a PM.

Enjoy your vacation!

[seth]

ive double checked and the ones i indicate are not north-african lamps but as you stated, asia minor lamps.
still, the lamp frederic showed looks very similar to the ones pictured in iconomu's type XXVIII from asia minor, in terms of the dots on the margins. although there is no volute on frederic's example and the discus opens up towards the burning orifice.
similar types but 4 centuries apart ?

[Strobilus]

similar types but 4 centuries apart ?

Basically, yes. They look quite similar in photographs - but the difference would be very obvious if you saw them side-by-side in the flesh.

North African lamps tend to be larger and the fabric is quite different. The quality of the earlier lamp would also be superior - more finely made, typically finer definition (though this example is from a worn mould), more robust handle which is normally pierced, etc.

Many thanks for the copy of Iconomu!