Oil Lamp

"A small, buff-colored ovoid lamp, this piece belongs to a large group indigenous to Egypt known as "frog" lamps. The reservoir has deep, rounded sides, and a nozzle fully merged with the body. The base is flat, and marked with a palm motif. A molded band forms the discus around the filling hole. The small wick hole at the narrow end of the nozzle is set off by a single curved incised line. The upper surface of the lamp is decorated with a naturalistic-looking frog modeled in low relief. The anatomical details are articulated with incised lines and prick marks.

Lamps such as this example were popular over a long period of time in Egypt. Production began as early as the second century, or earlier, and continued throughout the Early Christian period (Shier, 1978, pp. 24-30). Comparable lamps are illustrated in Shier, 1978, p. 102, no. 246, pl. 29; Menzel. pp. 88-89, ns. 584-86; Holscher, p. 68, fig. 88a, pl. 40, no. 7; Dalton, 1901, p. 150, pl. XXXII, no. 819.

For the significance of the frog motif, see p. 10." -Eunice Dauterman Maguire, Henry Maguire and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers, Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 75.

Maguire, Eunice Dauterman, Henry Maguire and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers. Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.