Oil lamp
Algiers, Algeria
National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts
About National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts, Algiers
Hegira 405–547 / AD 1015–1152
II.C.005
Hand-moulded earthenware, then assembled.
Height 4 cm, sides 4 x 5 cm, width of the spout 4.5 cm
Hammadid
Qal’at Bani Hammad, Algeria.
This lamp is composed of a cubic oil compartment without a base, perforated on the side by a large hole that extends into a wide spout. The upper surface is pierced to form a filter composed of three triangular orifices through which the oil was poured. The lamp is equipped with an annular handle that is turned upwards.
A mesh that absorbed oil would have emerged from the spout. This lamp would have formed part of rural daily home-wares and was used to light up houses.
A rural domestic object, this lamp consists of a cubic reservoir with a large hole in one side that extends into a wide spout. The oil was poured in through the top, which is decorated with openwork, and the ring handle faces upwards. An oil-soaked wick would have been placed in the spout.
The lamp was found on the Hammadid site (405–547 / 1015–1152) and has characteristics of Hammadid lamps: a long spout and an annular handle turned upwards.
The lamp was found in the Qal'at Bani Hammad.
Institut du Monde Arabe, L'Algérie en héritage, art et histoire, catalogue, Paris, 2003.
Houria Cherid "Oil lamp" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;dz;Mus01;4;en
Prepared by: Houria CheridHouria Cherid
Titulaire d'un magister en archéologie islamique (1992), enseignante à l'Institut d'archéologie de l'université d'Alger de 1992 à 1999, conservateur du patrimoine archéologique et historique au Musée national des antiquités de 1994 à 2002, puis conservateur en chef à partir de 2002, Houria Cherid est chef du service Labo-photo, département Animation et Documentation au Musée national des antiquités. Elle a publié de nombreux articles dans les Annales du Musée national des antiquités et prépare actuellement un doctorat en archéologie islamique.
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: Maria Vlotides
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen
MWNF Working Number: AL 07
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