11-13-2006, 11:37 PM
Thank you, Virilis. Now I can see the lamp!
From your images there is no reason to doubt that your lamp is genuinely ancient. The style, fabric, colour, patination and details are consistent with genuine lamps of its type.
It is typical of North African lamps of the late 2nd to the first half or so of the 3rd century AD (say, 175 - 260 AD). The scene is fairly common on these lamps and depicts a deity (very probably Diana) in a chariot pulled by a pair of gryphons.
I have put an image of a clearer example of the type together with yours here:
[url:33nw8yby]http://www.romulus2.com/diana/[/url]
As I said, lamps were made in different grades of quality, and the clay and slip also varied. They were not made by just one maker; there were many lamp workshops in the region. Also bear in mind that the final colour was affected by kiln methods and temperatures. All these factors varied not only from maker to maker but even within the same workshop over a period of time.
The first lamp is clearly from a fresh mould. Your own lamp is from a worn or later generation mould and somewhat more careless in execution (e.g. an oversized wick-hole) - but not necessarily much later in date.
The fabric of both lamps is typical of the range in North African lamps of this period. The two filling-holes on yours and the single filling-hole on the first one are both common configuratons on this type.
There is indeed a huge number of fake lamps around but there is a danger of 'throwing out the baby with the bath water'. A common limitation of handling only museum objects is that the finest examples of a type become the norm and anything more mundane (or clumsy) stands in danger of being rejected as fake simply because it is unfamiliar.
David
From your images there is no reason to doubt that your lamp is genuinely ancient. The style, fabric, colour, patination and details are consistent with genuine lamps of its type.
It is typical of North African lamps of the late 2nd to the first half or so of the 3rd century AD (say, 175 - 260 AD). The scene is fairly common on these lamps and depicts a deity (very probably Diana) in a chariot pulled by a pair of gryphons.
I have put an image of a clearer example of the type together with yours here:
[url:33nw8yby]http://www.romulus2.com/diana/[/url]
As I said, lamps were made in different grades of quality, and the clay and slip also varied. They were not made by just one maker; there were many lamp workshops in the region. Also bear in mind that the final colour was affected by kiln methods and temperatures. All these factors varied not only from maker to maker but even within the same workshop over a period of time.
The first lamp is clearly from a fresh mould. Your own lamp is from a worn or later generation mould and somewhat more careless in execution (e.g. an oversized wick-hole) - but not necessarily much later in date.
The fabric of both lamps is typical of the range in North African lamps of this period. The two filling-holes on yours and the single filling-hole on the first one are both common configuratons on this type.
There is indeed a huge number of fake lamps around but there is a danger of 'throwing out the baby with the bath water'. A common limitation of handling only museum objects is that the finest examples of a type become the norm and anything more mundane (or clumsy) stands in danger of being rejected as fake simply because it is unfamiliar.
David
