Dimensions: Height 16 cm Wide 7,5 cm Depth 17 cm
Weight: 658 grams

Finely cast with a pear-shaped body on a flaring circular foot, the lamp has a rounded nozzle with a circular wick hole and a domed shoulder adorned with a relief mask of a bearded deity, likely Silenus or a river god. The boldly modelled handle rises in openwork with scrolling volutes, surmounted by a palmette finial of elegant proportions. The surface has acquired a rich olive-green patina with areas of encrustation, testifying to its great age.

Bronze lamps of this quality are exceptionally rare, produced as luxury items for elite households, in stark contrast to the mass-produced terracotta examples of the Roman world. The combination of Dionysian mask and palmette handle reflects both classical symbolism and Hellenistic prototypes, placing this work firmly within the artistic vocabulary of the high Roman Empire.

Comparable examples are preserved in the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, both dated to the 2nd–3rd century AD. The present lamp, with its superbly preserved handle, crisp mask relief, and fine patina, represents a museum-quality piece of Roman bronze craftsmanship, seldom encountered on the market and highly desirable to connoisseurs of classical antiquities.

A SIMILAR OBJECT WAS EXHIBITED IN BANGKOK NATIONAL MUSEUM