Hellenistic Bronze Oil Lamp

1st century BC. A bronze lamp with a deep body with long, slightly splayed round-tipped nozzle with convex top, round wick-hole, hinge piece on top of the nozzle for the now lost lid of the wick-hole; raised circular base. See similar specimen in Bailey, D. M., A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum IV, London, 1996, no.Q3560, pl.7. 136 grams, 10.2cm (4"). Property of an Essex gentleman; acquired on the UK art market; previously in a German collection collection formed since 1970. Hellenistic bronze lamps exhibit a great variety of shapes and details. These lamps were characteristic of the Western Mediterranean, probably Italy, and although their production style was Greek in origin, they were typical of the Late Roman Consular Age. The specimen in the BM akin to our typology, a gift of Sir William Hamilton in 1772, still retains the original lid, surmounted by a bird.
Condition Report: Fine condition, small hole, lid absent.