Black-glazed open oil lamp with loop handle, after a Greek Attic original of the later 5th century BCE, based on a lamp from the Athenian Agora.
In ancient Athens, oil lamps pierced the darkness of houses, workshops, sanctuaries, and evening drinking parties. Thousands of lamp fragments from the Athenian Agora show how essential these small objects were in daily life, and how their forms developed over time.
This simple open type, with its narrow loop handle, could be placed on a surface or hung from a peg when not in use. Similar lamps also burned in the silver mine galleries of Laurion, where light and ventilation were matters of survival.
Wheel-made from fine Attic orange clay, the lamp is coated inside and out with lustrous black glaze, except for the flat, slightly raised base, reserved in the natural clay. The glaze helped prevent oil from seeping through the porous ceramic body.
Functional with olive oil and a cotton wick, or simply appreciated as a small vessel of ancient design.
After: Athenian Agora, Lamp L 2322, Type 21B, later 5th century BCE.
Reference: J. Perlzweig, Lamps from the Athenian Agora, American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Dimensions: L 14 cm, D 11 cm, H 2 cm