The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Lamp
100–1 BCE
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Romans used olive oil as their main lamp fuel.Description
Bronze lamps like this one were used to create artificial light. A wick was placed in the nozzle and oil poured into the opening below the handle. Here the handle terminates in an elaborate boar’s head, with its bristly hair indicated with tiny lines. When the lamp was lit, figural handles, like this boar, would cast complex and interesting shadows.This lamp and stand were not found together, but illustrate how they would have been used in antiquity.
- Milliken, William M. “Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1953.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 41, no. 6 (1954): 131–74. Mentioned p. 144 www.jstor.org
- {{cite web|title=Lamp|url=false|author=|year=100–1 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.12