ByzB003
Byzantine bronze lamp with a cross and blossom handle.
5th-7th century AD.
L. 21.5 cm (8 7/16 in.), H. 9.5 cm (3 6/8 in.
Hole-fillings at the nozzle, base, and at one side of the handle. Fine green patina with spots of brownish encrustation.
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The lamp with elongated oval convex body, tapering neck, round nozzle, on a round footed base. Long arched handle flaring into an hexagonal blossom with the filling hole opening at its center. A leaf under the blossom forms a circle between the handle and lamp’s body. A cross is depicted in relief on the center of the lamp.
The hexagonal blossom shape might be a stylized modeling of the lily blossom.
The lamp is of unusual form, and no exact parallels have been found. The general shape with the cross design and the arched handle may be compared with the Byzantine bronze lamps with arched handle with lily blossom, related to the lamps with griffin handle.
For a lamp with lily blossom:
Cf. M. Conticello De'Spagnolis, E. De Carolis, Musei della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1986, Nr. 45.
For a lamp with a griffin handle:
Cf. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wamser, 2004, p. 229, fig. 340.
M. Conticello De'Spagnolis, E. De Carolis, Le lucerne di bronzo, Musei della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Inventari e Studi, 1, Città del Vaticano 1986.
Die welt von Byzanz – europas ostliches erbe. Glanz, Krisen und Fortleben einer tausendjahrigen Kultur. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wamser, Archaologische Staatssammlung – Museum fur Vor- und Fruhgeschichte, Munchen, 2004.
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