Christian Lamp with Bust of a Saint (?)

Place of OriginProbably Tunisia, possibly El Jem

Dateabout 420-550 CE

Dimensions2 × 2 3/4 × 5 in. (5.1 × 7 × 12.7 cm)

MediumEarthenware (North African Red Slip Ware), molded, slip-decorated, and fired

ClassificationUtilitarian Objects

Credit LineGift of Ruth Cordes Cantwell in memory of her father, George Cordes

Object number

2009.292

Not on View

DescriptionA mold-made earthenware oil lamp featuring a circular discus, broad rim, long nozzle, and solid stump handle. The surface is coated in a reddish-orange slip. The central discus is decorated with a high-relief bust of a bearded man facing forward, wearing a toga. The rim features a repeating molded pattern of chevrons enclosing rounded, stylized plant forms. A distinct channel connects the discus to the nozzle. Above the nozzle wick hole is a molded cross set within a square. The underside is plain or features a low base ring.

Label TextThis lamp was made in North Africa during a time when Christianity was spreading through the Roman Empire. Molded from reddish clay and decorated with slip, it features a cross and the bust of a bearded man, possibly Saint Peter. Oil lamps like this one were commonly used in homes or placed in graves, where they symbolized light in the afterlife. This example belongs to a well-known type of Christian lamp made in Tunisia, often decorated with religious or symbolic imagery.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.Comparative ReferencesCf. Magness, Jodi. A Typology of the Late Roman and Byzantine Pottery of Jerusalem, Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1989.

. Cf. Knudsen, Sandra E. Romans and Barbarians, exhibition catalogue, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1976, p. 126, cat. 145.

Cf. Hayes, John W. Late Roman Pottery, London, British School at Rome, 1972, “African Lamps,” pp. 310–315, pl. 21a.