Large Roman Oil Lamp with Theatrical Mask. 1st-2nd century A.D. A bronze lamp with elongated body, a long splayed and fluked nozzle with rounded tip and circular wick hole; flat rim around the body and the nozzle; D-section handle curving forward from the rear and terminating in a tragic theatrical mask with a palmette below the mask, the hair dressed in stylised ringlets, two raised cones on the brow and a wig with tripartite horns pointing backwards; raised basal ring. See Boucher, S., Inventaire des Collections Publiques Françaises - 17 Vienne: Bronzes Antiques, Paris, 1971, fig.401; Bailey, D.M., A catalogue of the lamps in the British Museum, IV, Lamps of metal and stone, and lampstands, London, 1996, no.Q3669, for similar. 622 grams, 19 cm long (7 1/2 in.) German art market before 2000. With a European gentleman living in the UK. Property of a Surrey gentleman. The lamp belongs to the typology of the elongated lamps with splayed and fluked nozzles. Single-stemmed lamps of this category often terminate with a tragic mask motif. Various examples came from all corners of the Roman Empire, although the quality of the work points towards a South-Italic or even Roman workshop. [A video of this lot is available to view on Timeline Auctions Website]

Fine condition.