DESCRIPTION: Intact. A mould-made pottery oil lamp dating from the Byzantine - Islamic transitional period. The lamp is made from very pale buff clay and has a round body, long tapering nozzle, short pointed solid handle at the rear and rests on a plain ring foot. The large central fill hole has a raised edge, and the upper surface is defined by a ridge that extends forward to encompass the wick hole. In the space between the fill hole and wick hole is a simplified low relief long cross. The shoulder is decorated with a pattern of repeating vertical dashes in relief. There are soot stains at the wick hole and minor lime encrustation on the lower surfaces.

PROVENANCE: Formerly in a Welsh private collection formed between the 1970s and 2008.

PUBLISHED: Bonhams, London, ANTIQUITIES, 29 April, 2009, Lot #308, listed and illustrated on Page 175.

COMPARISONS: For a related example, see the RomQ Reference Collection online at www.romulus2.com/lamps/database, Lamp BSP8.