Ancient Ceramic Oil Lamps at Clio Ancient Art

Ancient pottery oil lamps, and especially ancient Roman lamps, offer antiquities collectors the opportunity to specialize in a very specific area of collecting.
 
The range of different types, ranging from black glazed Hellenistic-inspired types in time of the Republic through the North African and Syro-Palestinian types with Christian-inspired decoration during Byzantine transition, span a period of some 500 years.
 
The range of ceramic fabrics, decorative schemes, shape variations and maker’s marks seem virtually limitless, and local lamp production took place in every region of the Roman Empire.
 
Some ancient oil lamp collectors specialize in the so-called “Factory Lamps” from Gaul and Italy in the 1st Century CE, others in the profusion of low-fired unglazed pottery lamps from the greater Levantine region, including, Samarian, Jewish, Roman-imitative, early Christian types, as well as Byzantine and early Islamic examples. Still other collectors focus on the long history of decorated red slip ceramic lamps of the North African provinces, especially Tunisia.
 
Oil lamps are of great value to archaeology, as well. With their well documented maker’s marks (and copies of these, much like cheap knock-offs or counterfeits of major brands today) and styles, lamps recovered in context offer valuable dating evidence. They also provide many clues to the movement of goods and people over time.
 
Prior to the introduction of modern laws governing the export of antiquities from most Mediterranean countries, that is, prior to the 1960s and ’70s, great numbers of ancient Roman lamps were collected. While a great many have since been donated to public art museums (this author has donated several examples to museum collections), there is still great availability. Fine quality examples, often with meaningful decoration on their discoi (the term for the central round space on a lamp's upper surface), are still undervalued in relation to other areas of the art market.
 
Clio Ancient Art offers many examples for sale at reasonable prices, including examples of all the types mentioned above.
 
Here is a link to our “Ancient Oil Lamps” page: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

 A few examples are shown below, with links to those pages.

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i128.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i63.html

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i400.html 

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i404.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i68.html

Ancient Cypriot Ceramics: A Brief Review

The Island of Cyprus, still divided after 4 decades between the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot state — a member of the EU– and the Turkish Cypriot state, and very much in the news lately because of its economic woes, has a profoundly long and complex history. Once the crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean, it has seen immigrants and invaders come and go for many thousands of years. Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Turks, British colonials and others have all left their mark on its landscape and culture.

One very tangible component of the Island’s surviving ancient material culture is pottery. Almost indestructible and abundant, ceramics have been key to aiding more modern excavators in reconstructing the Island’s complex ancient history. Prior to the signing of modern international conventions restricting the export of Cypriot antiquities, a great deal of Cypriot material was removed from the Island by amateurs, explorers, museums, financially motivated looters and by archaeologists. Much of this material is available on the legitimate antiquities art market today.

Our website offers a good selection of material, from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic era. Our selection is by no means comprehensive, as the range of ancient Cypriot pottery types, fabrics, designs, etc. is enormous and just as complex as the Island’s history. Below please find a few images with links to those items on our website.

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i383.html 

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i6.html 

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i94.html 

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i4.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i5.html

 

Link to a post on our WordPress Blog about Iranian antiquities in light of current sanctions

http://clioantiquities.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/iranian-antiquities-in-the-current-political-context/

A Bit of Egypt Beside the Thames

Egyptian Obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III, circa 1450 BCE. Victoria Embankment Gardens, London. This bit of Egypt beside the Thames has a remarkable history -- Erected by Thutmose at Heliopolis, inscribed 200 years later by Ramses II, moved to Alexandria in the Roman period, given as a gift to the United Kingdom by Mehmet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, lost in a storm in the Bay of Biscay on the way to England, salvaged and repaired in Spain, finally reaching London January, 1878. It has a twin in New York's Central Park. 180 tons, 68 feet, granite.

Additions to our Egyptian Antiquities Page

We've added the following items to our Egyptian Antiquities Page --

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i407.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i408.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i409.html

Antiquities in The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

This link will take you to a photo album on our Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151534776333594.550212.247378388593&type=1&l=3f7012b51e

Most recent installation of the antiquities collection, including many pieces donated by Clio Ancient Art & Antiquities' "Chris M. Maupin Irrevocable Trust for Ancient Art". This is the 3rd re-installation of the relatively new collection and includes many pieces that Clio Ancient Art and the Trust worked with the Museum on acquiring from other private collectors. Of course, only a fraction of the collection, now numbering over 200 objects, is on display at any one time; perhaps 45 objects. Of the 40 or so pieces gifted by the Trust, about 15 are currently on display. 

Ancient Beads in Faience, Glass, Stone and Metal

A good photo essay on our WordPress page...

http://clioantiquities.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/ancient-beads-in-faience-glass-stone-metal/