Ancient Greek Pottery Oil lamp, Type Howland 21. Spanish Export License. (No Reserve Price)

ITEM: Oil lamp, Type Howland 21
MATERIAL: Pottery
CULTURE: Greek
PERIOD: 5th - 4th Century B.C
DIMENSIONS: 38 mm x 67 mm x 129 mm
CONDITION: Good condition
PROVENANCE: Ex French private collection, acquired before 1990s

Comes with Certificate of Authenticity and European Union export license

If you bid outside European Union and win the item, we must request a new export license to your country and the shipment will delay between 3 - 5 weeks.

The history of ancient Greek oil lamps reflects a gradual technological and aesthetic evolution, transforming from simple, open vessels to more enclosed, sophisticated forms. The earliest lamps, dating to the Bronze Age, were basic, wheel-made, open-saucer dishes, often made of terracotta, with a pinched rim to create a simple nozzle where the wick (usually linen or a plant fiber) would rest. This simple design was prone to oil spillage, but by the 6th and 5th centuries BCE—the height of the Classical period—Athenian workshops perfected the "padlock" lamp (also known as the "Attic type"). This style was wheel-made with a rounded, more enclosed body, a prominent filling hole, a longer bridged nozzle, and often a loop or strap handle, providing greater control over the flame and reducing the waste of the fuel, typically olive oil.

A significant shift in Greek lamp production occurred during the Hellenistic Period (beginning around 323 BCE) with the introduction of mold-made lamps. While earlier Greek lamps were primarily utilitarian and featured only a black slip glaze for decoration and to reduce oil seepage, the use of molds allowed for mass production and elaborate ornamentation. The body became fully enclosed, with decoration focused on the lamp's shoulder or discus (the central upper surface). Common motifs included mythological figures, masks, animals, and decorative patterns like rosettes and vines. This new manufacturing technique allowed for greater detail and standardization, making Greek lamps, particularly those from centers like Athens and Asia Minor, highly sought after and widely exported throughout the Mediterranean world, thus influencing later Roman designs.

Beyond their essential function as a portable and fixed source of artificial light, Greek oil lamps held important ritual and symbolic significance. They were an indispensable fixture of both domestic life and public spaces, used to illuminate homes, shops, and shrines after sunset. Crucially, oil lamps were frequently employed in religious ceremonies, serving as votive offerings to deities, or placed in burial chambers to provide light for the deceased in the afterlife, a practice common across the ancient Mediterranean. The presence of a maker's mark (often a stamp on the base) on many Hellenistic mold-made lamps also demonstrates their economic importance, serving as a rudimentary form of quality control and branding that is invaluable today for dating and tracing ancient trade networks.