hanging lamp

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Object Type: hanging lamp
Museum number: 1897,0820.1
Description: Lamp for suspension; brass; the curved handle in the shape of the head and neck of a crested dragon holding an apple(?) in its mouth, and bearing on its head a sacred monogram surmounted by a dove; the neck is ornamented with a collar of leaves with projecting ends; the hole for filling is covered by a dome-shaped lid, and the chain for suspension terminates in a hook.
Cultures/periods: Early Byzantine
Production date: 4thC-5thC
Findspot: Found/Acquired: Herculaneum (historic)
Materials: brass
Technique: relief
Dimensions: Height: 41.20 centimetres (including chain); Height: 15.70 centimetres (lamp); Length: 21 centimetres; Weight: 1.126 kilograms; Width: 7.20 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: See also 1850,0805.10
Bibliographic references: Dalton 1901 / Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (502); Lamp / Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum (Q3831MLA); Xanthopoulou 2010 / Les lampes en bronze à l’époque paléochrétienne (LA 4.013); Cormack & Vassilaki 2008 / Byzantium 330-1453 (220)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2012-2013 11 Nov-25 Aug, USA, Art Institute of Chicago, Tradition Transformed: Late Roman and Early Byzantine Treasures from the British Museum 2008-2009 25 Oct-22 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Byzantium 330-1453 AD
Subjects: fruit; bird; dragon; leaf
Acquisition name: Donated by: Miss Sloane Stanley
Previous owner: Previous owner/ex-collection: Joachim Murat, King of Naples (?)
Acquisition date: 1897
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1897,0820.1

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