LATE ROMAN TO BYZANTINE PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A NORTH AFRICAN RED SLIP WARE OIL LAMP AND A GYPSUM MOLD
LATE ROMAN TO BYZANTINE PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.
The lamp with a tapering handle and a long canal nozzle, the discus molded with the two spies carrying a large grape cluster between them hanging from a pole that they carry over their shoulders, a fill-hole on either side of the scene, bordered on each side with a band of scrolling grape vines; the mold for a lamp with the same subject and decorative scheme
Lamp: 5 in. (14.6 cm) long (2)

Provenance

Daniel M. Friedenberg, Connecticut, 1970s-1990s.
Daniel M. Friedenberg; Christie's New York, 12 December 2002, lot 315.

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Lot Essay

The iconography of this scene represents the Old Testament story of the return of the spies that Moses sent into the land of Canaan to report back on the wealth and nature of the land (Numbers 13:23). This iconography would have been appropriate in Jewish and Christian contexts. See no. 133 in Ackerman and Braunstein, Israel in Antiquity, From David to Herod.

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