Description: A circular fawn pottery oil lamp with simple lug handle and the discus decorated by a segmented band in low relief with a star-shaped pattern moulded on the base. Some earthy encrustation, a chip to the underside and some soot deposits around the wick hole, otherwise condition good, from the Levant, probably Syria.
Size: 80 mm/3.1 ins. across
Culture: Byzantine/early Islamic
Date: c. 600-800 A.D.
Provenance: Ex Colorado private collection, and previously in the Major Blinkinsop Collection, acquired while working for the UN in the Middle East during the 1960s.
Background: Major Blinkinsop built up a very large collection of ancient lamps while serving in the Middle East. The entire collection was crated up and shipped to the USA at the onset of the 1967 Israeli-Arab War. These crates were reputedly only opened by his descendants in 2012.
