Ancient Mediterranean Oil Lamps Capture the Pop Culture of Their Time

Terracotta lamp from Anatolia with curled-up sleeping dog in high-relief (1st-4th c. CE) (all images courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and all featured in ‘Ancient Lamps in the J. Paul Getty Museum’ by Jean Bussière and Birgitta Lindros Wohl)

J. Paul Getty Museum published a free, digital catalogue documenting one of the richest troves of lamps from the ancient Mediterranean world.

The oil lamp, at its core, is quite a modest object. Roughly the size of your hand and made of clay or metal, it really needs to hold only fuel and a wick to fulfill its duty. But while the basic engineering of oil lamps remained the same for thousands of years, the forms of their vessels were ripe for artistic experimentation. Oil lamps became highly decorated wares, featuring designs that play with the shapes of their handles, nozzles, and bowls. 

Read more and see more photos: https://hyperallergic.com