Lot 149

3 Romano-Egyptian Pottery Oil Lamps - Frog Motif & Human-Head Handle

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Lot 149
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3 Romano-Egyptian Pottery Oil Lamps - Frog Motif & Human-Head Handle
3 Romano-Egyptian Pottery Oil Lamps - Frog Motif & Human-Head Handle
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3 Romano-Egyptian Pottery Oil Lamps - Frog Motif & Human-Head Handle

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Starting Bid: $400

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 6, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Roman Egypt, Romano-Egyptian, ca. 100–400 CE. A trio of mold-formed terracotta oil lamps from Roman Egypt, each shaped by hand and fired to warm earthen tones. Two lighter beige examples bear the frog in relief, its stippled body radiating across the discus in the manner long favored along the Nile, where the amphibian signified fertility, rebirth, and the goddess Heket. The third, a deeper reddish lamp, rises to a small modeled human head that crowns the nozzle as a decorative handle, its features softened by wear. Each retains the essential grammar of the ancient lamp: a central filling hole, a wick channel, and a reservoir once brimming with olive oil. Humble instruments of everyday illumination, they lit homes, tombs, and shrines alike, their imagery binding domestic light to enduring promises of regeneration. Size of largest (larger frog): 3.4" W x 3.1" H x 3.6" D (8.6 cm W x 7.9 cm H x 9.1 cm D).

The frog lamp is one of the most recognizable products of Roman Egypt, produced in vast numbers from the first through fourth centuries CE. The frog (and its associated goddess Heket, midwife of the sun's daily rebirth) had signified emergence and renewal since Pharaonic times, and the motif endured well into the Christian era, when it was sometimes reinterpreted as a symbol of resurrection. Such lamps were pressed from two-part molds in workshops around the Fayum and the Delta, then trimmed and pierced by hand, which accounts for the slight variation seen across surviving examples.

Provenance: private Fountain Hills, Arizona, USA collection, by family descent, acquired via Israeli and American dealers from the 1980s to 2003

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Item # 203801

  • Condition: Perforation to more petite frog lamp. All have some expected weathering with abrasions. Otherwise, two are intact and all are very nice with liberal remaining detail and scattered earthen deposits.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000