A ROMAN BRONZE OIL LAMP

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE OIL LAMP
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
In the form of a head of an African, with echeloned corkscrew curls fringed around the face, thick brows, bulging articulated, lidded eyes and a broad nose, the fleshy lips open with the lamp nozzle protruding from the mouth, "earring" loops at the earlobes for suspension chains, the lidded fill-hole at the top of the head, the ring handle surmounted by a palmette
7¼ in. (18.4 cm.) long

Provenance

Private Collection, England, 1985.

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Lot Essay

For the tradition of representing Africans in ancient art, see Snowden, "Iconographic Evidence on the Black Populations in Greco-Roman Antiquity," ch. 3 in Vercoutter, et al., The Image of the Black in Western Art, vol. I.

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