DESCRIPTION: Intact. A Roman mold-made pottery oil lamp with a prominently displayed bust of what may be Poseidon in relief on the slightly recessed discus. The figure appears frontally, wearing a loose garment, with wide open eyes and detailed hair flowing wildly behind. A burst of 4 or 5 rays appears behind the figure's head and a trident stands behind the figure's proper left shoulder. The lamp is made from thick clay with a well preserved brick-red slip. Two fill holes are positioned at the edge of the discus, one above and one below the central image. The slightly downward sloping shoulder is covered with a modified ovalo design. The lamp has a rounded projecting nozzle with large round wick hole and a high arched loop handle at the rear, with three grooves on its upper surface. One side of the handle has been slightly malformed, revealing what may be part of the maker's fingerprint in the clay. The slightly concave base is defined by a maker's mark of two concentric circles with a group of three more tiny concentric circles arranged in a triangular plan at the center, and a further group of three small impressed circles to one side of the central group and a single circle to the other side.

PROVENANCE: Property from an English deceased estate.

PUBLISHED: Bonhams, London, ANTIQUITIES, 28 October, 2009, Lot #349, described on page 195.