**Originally Listed At $500**

Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A fine mold-formed oil lamp with a planar base with a planta pedis reading "LMVHPHILE," rounded walls, a pierced tab handle, a recessed tondo with a small fill hole, and a semicircular wick spout. The red-slip lamp displays a pair of running dwarves in relief within the tondo with one chasing the other towards the right side of the lamp. A beautiful example from ancient Rome! Size: 2.75" W x 1.6" H (7 cm x 4.1 cm).

Dwarves were an interesting symbol within the Roman Empire as they were a catch-all symbol for Rome's fascination with Egyptian culture. According to Lillian Bartlett Stoner of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, "…images of dwarfs were emblematic of the mania for all things 'Egyptian' that reached a fever pitch in the decades leading up to and following the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C." (Lillian Bartlett Stoner, "A Bronze Hellenistic Dwarf in the Metropolitan Museum" Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2015 50, 92-101).

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#144411

Minor abrasions to base and body, with minor softening to finer details and planta pedis, and wear to areas of original pigmentation, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits throughout. Old inventory label beneath base.