Terracotta Lantern
date: label: Accession Date
content: 23 Oct 1935
name: label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Virginia W. Hillyer
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Roman. Rectangular; opening has been outlined in red; Age: ca. 200 A.D.."
label: Notes
content: Illus. Catalogue no. 1, p. 38 in Boura, Laskarina, and Maria G. Parani. 2008. Lighting in early Byzantium. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Identified there as a miniature lantern, Italy, 1st - 2nd century, ceramic, with traces of white slip; h. 9 cm., w. 7 cm.."This small, boxlike lantern has a pyramidal roof with a pierced lug for suspension at the top. It is modeled as an open shrine, with a doorway at the front, a plain solid back, and sidewalls in openwork. The lantern retains traces of white slip. A comparable miniature lantern from the Fayoum in Egypt is now at the Royal Ontario Museum and is dated to the late 1st century. Even such a small lantern as this was functional and would have held either a candle or a miniature lamp. However, in view of its date, it may well have been a votive object, probably from a funerary context."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Italy, Europe
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Roman
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 136485
label: USNM Number
content: A376430-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Lantern
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 9 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 7 cm