Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A wheel-thrown buffware pottery lantern with a flat base, hollow body with an ovoid opening, tall walls and a rounded shoulder bearing twenty-six pierced holes, a narrow neck with a quartet of pinched upper corners, and a trifurcated loop handle. Lanterns like this were intended to create a larger light source when a lit oil lamp was placed inside the body. Multiple pierced holes allowed light to fill a room from all angles or provide an outdoor area with ample brightness, though such luminosity depended on the intensity of the light produced by the lamp. Size: 5.25" W x 8.875" H (13.3 cm x 22.5 cm).

Provenance: private Davis collection, Houston, Texas, USA

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#138713

Lantern repaired from multiple large pieces with some minor restoration and earthen stabilization material along break lines. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age and use, small nicks to base, body, shoulder, neck, and handle, and light roughness across most surfaces. Nice earthen deposits throughout.