Roman, Holy Land, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 4th century CE. A group of four mold-formed miniature pottery oil lamps from the Roman-controlled Holy Land. The smallest lamp has a teardrop-form body with raised, textured stippling surrounding the central fill hole. The second-smallest lamp has a small protruding lateral handle and a projecting wick spout. The second-largest lamp has an ovoid body with a tab-shaped handle, four small fill holes, a large wick spout, and yellow, white, and orange pigment scattered across the top. The largest lamp has a schematic design and much finer details exhibited in a flower-adorned neck channel, a concentric circular fill hole flanked by a pair of cherubs, and a trio of triangular handles around the periphery. Size of largest (cherubs): 2.25" W x 3" H (5.7 cm x 7.6 cm).

Provenance: private Davis collection, Houston, Texas, USA; ex-Bonhams, London, Knightsbridge Antiquities Auction (May 8, 2013, part of lot 96); ex-private English collection, formed in the 1970s, thence by descent

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#138742

All lamps have small nicks to bases and wick spouts, with some bearing light char marks around wick spouts, fading to finer details and pigmentation, and some minor nicks across most exterior surfaces. Nice earthen deposits throughout.