Description: An Early Christian oil lamp with stub handle in cream slip ware, a wreath around the shoulder. Some earthy encrustation, patchy surface wear and minor chips, and traces of soot around the wick hole, probably from northern Syria.
Size: 87 mm/3.4 ins. in length
Culture: Syro-Palestinian
Date: c. 600-700 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.
