Description:

Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 4th century CE; Near East, Holy Land, Byzantine Period, ca. 4th to 8th century CE. A collection of 7 pottery oil lamps with ring-form bodies with fill holes and wick spouts. Most have mold made decorations including a Christian crucifix, a seated woman with an amphora vase, and a faint bearded face within the recessed tondo - the fill hole forming a open mouth. Lamps of this style were immensely important to the lives of the people who used them and these have been found throughout the Roman Empire and Classical world. Size of largest: 4.5" L x 3" W x 1.75" H (11.4 cm x 7.6 cm x 4.4 cm)

Please note these were part of the Leavitt Hunt collection. Hunt (1831 to 1907) was a lawyer, world traveler, and photographer and the first American, if not the first person, to make a photographic record of the Near East and Mediterranean, during his "Grand Tour" from 1851 to 1852, alongside his friend, Nathan Flint Baker (1820-1891). Hunt and Baker captured calotype images of some of the greatest ancient ruins of the Classical World, and these prints are invaluable early artistic photographs as well as historical records of the sites, and several were donated by Hunt's family to the Library of Congress as part of the permanent collection, as well as other institutions. Besides taking photos, artifacts were personally collected by Hunt in the various countries he visited, including these lamps.

Provenance: ex-Natalie Capron, Vermont, USA, 1972 to 2008, now by her heirs; ex-Maurice Crandall, Vermont, 1941 to 1972; ex-Clyde du Vernet Hunt, Vermont, 1916 to 1941; ex-Katherine Jarvis Hunt, Vermont, 1907 to 1916; ex-Leavitt Hunt, Vermont, collected 1851 to 1852

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#174395

  • Condition: Largest lamp is repaired from 2 piece, break line across the body as shown and chip. Stable fissure in neck rim of lamp with handle and heavy mineral deposits. Loss to handle on face lamp. Softening to finer details and light mineral deposits throughout.

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December 22, 2022 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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