- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Pottery lamp of buff ware with the design of frog and corn. [MOBB [OPS move] 2/12/2016]
- Long description
- Pottery lamp of buff ware with the design of frog and corn. Ovoid lamp with projecting, axe-headed wick nozzle, flat bottom, rounded sides and convex top. The central filling hole has the two front legs of the frog (in the form of narrow ridges) on either side of it with the full body and rear legs, all in relief, behind it. At the front of the filling hole is a ?human face in relief. Below the front legs, on the sides of the lamp are four horizontal rides incised with chevrons. There is blackening around the wick hole and a maker's mark on the bottom. [MOBB [OPS move] 2/12/2016]
- Person
- Field collector William Matthew Flinders Petrie
- PRM source Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund
- Date / Period
- Archaeological period: Roman
- Date collected
- 1903 - 1904
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1904
- Materials and processes
- Material Pottery, Process Decorated, Process Incised, Process Coiled Handbuilt, Process Moulded
- Dimensions
- Height: max 31 mm, Length: max 73 mm, Width: max 59 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1904.35.1
- Research and responses
In the supplement to the excavation report by Petrie (1905) Roman Ehnasya, Petrie notes that the lamps were acquired from several sources in addition to the excavation in order to produce his corpus. E.g. see p.4. of the supplement: "As the excavations of the houses at Ehnasya yielded many lamps which could be fairly dated, it seemed worth while to attempt a corpus of Romano-Egyptian lamps. The material consisted of the dated examples from houses, undated from excavations, lamps found by the sebakh diggers and bought by our party, and lamps bought from dealers at Medinet el Fayum. I have not distinguished between these various groups, as it is clear that the great majority were made at some distance and brought by trade to these towns, so that they might as well be found in one place as in another close by." Therefore, the lamps in the Pitt Rivers might not necessarily be from the excavation. [AS 12/09/2012]
The provenance is probably Ehnasya el-Medina, a village at the mouth of the Fayum located just above the ancient site of Herakleopolis Magna, excavated by Petrie from 1903-4; see W.M.F. Petrie, 1904, Ehnasya [RTS 8/7/2004].
- Associated publications
- Petrie, W.M.F. 1905. Ehnasya. London: Egypt Exploration Society. [AS 15/06/2012] Petrie, W.M.F. 1905. Roman Ehnasya (Herakleopolis Magna). London: Egypt Exploration Fund. See pages 5-7. [AS 26/06/2012]
1904.35.1
Pottery lamp of buff ware with the design of frog and corn. [MOBB [OPS move] 2/12/2016]
1904.35.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.