Photo © CEAlex - DR

The manufacture of lamps

LSo-called turned lamps (2 & 3) were made on a potter’s wheel. From the lump of clay on the wheel, the potter would make the reservoir and leave a hole for filling it. He would then separate the reservoir from the clay base with a string while it was still spinning as can be seen by the spiral marks of the string on the base of lamps. To shape the base, the potter would have to wait till the reservoir had dried before removing any surplus clay with a special instrument. During drying, he would shape the nozzle and attach it to the reservoir over the wick hole that was pierced into the reservoir with a tool. In the same way, from a lump of clay he would shape the handle if required. To apply the engobe, the potter dipped the lamp in a very liquid slip to which the desired pigment had been added. After complete drying, the lamps were piled one on top of the other and fired in a kiln.

From the 3rd century BC a new method was adopted, that of moulding. This made it easier to decorate the surface of the reservoir with vegetal or geometric motifs (4), or even with more representational images of animals or divinities. In the Roman Imperial period, lamp decoration became even more elaborate with figurative scenes within a sort of medallion adorning the reservoir.

Local moulded lamp (4)
2nd century BC, Gabbari 1997
Photo © CEAlex –DR

The stages in moulding a lamp

1- Creation of a solid prototype bearing all the details the maker wanted as decoration. Cover the prototype with successive layers of clay or plaster.
2- Before the mould is completely dry, it is cut horizontally into two parts creating the two shells of the mould both bearing the imprint of the decoration of the prototype.
3- The two parts are then fired.
4- A layer of clay was then pressed by hand into the two sections of the mould. It was left to dry then lifted out of the mould and the two halves were then stuck together, covered with engobe and finally fired in the kiln.

The major production centres of antiquity

One can determine the centres of lamp production by examining the shape, the decoration and especially the type of clay from which the lamp was made. Among local Egyptian production that accounts for some 95% of the ensemble of examples from Gabbari necropolis, we can recognise a chalky Alexandrian clay, most often orange in colour with white and black inclusions from crushed seashells and sometimes with shiny particles or mica. Another type of clay, pale pinkish with miniscule white particles, is perhaps from the area of Lake Mariout to the south of Alexandria. One can also find products in a dark brown, smooth alluvial clay.
Fine clay imports are in limited numbers. They come mostly from Attica, Rhodes, Cnidus, Ephesus, Italy and North Africa. There are also imports from Cyprus, Crete and the Levant.

Decoration

The iconographic repertoire of lamps from the Imperial period is large in variety and quality. There are scenes from mythology and representations of divinities (5), but also scenes from daily life. Animal (6) and vegetal (7) motifs are frequent. Certain lamps bear motifs that are recognisably Jewish, such as the seven-branched candleholder (8), or Christian (9).

(6) Moulded lamp from the Imperial period with lion decoration, Gabbari 1997 - Photo © CEAlex - DR