Description:
A large oil lamp with an elongated oval body, a rounded nozzle with a large wick hole, and a cone-shaped handle, made of light red clay. A decoration of alternating palm branches and ivy leaves on the shoulder.
The discus, which has two filling holes, shows a scene from the biblical book of Daniel. On the right hand side three men, wearing orientalising Phrygian hats, are being led by a soldier towards Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.), the king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who is shown enthroned on the left hand side. In front of him is a column with a statue on top.
These three men are Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, young men from Israel who were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. In chapter 3 of the book of Daniel one can read their story. Nebuchadnezzar set up an statue of gold, 60 cubits (circa 27 meter) high, and ordered that everybody should worship it, or else be thrown into a blazing furnace. The three men refused to do so as this would be idolatry. They were thrown into the fiery furnace, but came out unharmed, after which the king called them servants of the Most High God. The Greek version (which is a greatly expanded text including a prayer of one of the three men and a hymn by the three men), elaborates on how the angel of the Lord descended into the furnace to help them. The scene on our lamp depicts the prelude to the episode of the furnace.
With the decline of Italic lamp production in the second half of the 3rd century C.E., the workshops in Egypt and especially in the province of Africa Proconsularis (now Tunisia and northern Libya) flourished. Their products were exported to all Mediterranean countries from the 4th to the 6th century C.E. Many of these lamps depict Christian motifs or scenes. This particular scene was regarded as a symbol of salvation in the face of death and of resurrection. It was particularly popular in the early 4th century C.E. when, at the time the persecution of Christians who refused to comply with the religious demands of the Romans which they considered pagan, many were punished with death.
Parallels:
For the motif, with variants, see British Museum, London, inv.no. Q1796 MLA (Bailey (1988), pl. 23); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv.no. 27.94.39; Museum of the Bible, Washington D.C., inv.no. ATQ.000009; Kestner-Museum Hannover, Germany, inv.no. 1934, 52 (Mlasowsky (1993), p. 385; 398-399, no. 384); Garbsch (1989), p. 125f., no. 65; the scene of the three youths inthe furnace on a bronze casket.
Dating:
Africa Proconsularis / Byzacena, circa 4th-5th century C.E.
Size:
Length 14.3 cm, width 8 cm, height with handle 5.2 cm.
Provenance:
German private collection H., acquired before 1985 from another collection in Western Germany. With a copy of the German export license.
Condition:
Handle reattached with some remains of the glue visible, else intact with the usual surface wear and scratching.
€ 2,400
Stock number:
C1380
Background information:
Jehoiakim was king of Judah from circa 609 to circa 598 BC. In his third year Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and ordered that members of the Israelite royal family and nobility, deported to Babylon, should be instructed in the language and literature of the Babylonians for three years and then brought into the king’s service. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (all Hebrew names containing either El or Yah, referring to the God of Israel). In Babylon, by the king’s decree, they were given new, Chaldean names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (all containing references to Babylonian gods: Bel, Aku, and Nebo/Nabu), and they were appointed to high office.
The book of Daniel is part of the Ketuvim (Writings) in the Tenakh (Hebrew Bible), and of the Major Prophets in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It was partly written in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic.
The Aramaic part was written in a chiastic style, in which the narration develops and then returns to the starting point in parallel stories, placing the main point of the text in focus. The centre of the text are chapters 4 and 5 (Daniel interprets a dream, and Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall); these chapters are framed by chapers 3 and 6 (the fiery furnace and the lions' den), and then by chapter 2 and 7 (a dream of four kingdoms and a vision of four world kingdoms, both replaced by a fifth). See Redditt (2008), p. 177.
Literature:
Donald M. Bailey, Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum, III, Roman Provincial Lamps (London, British Museum Publications, 1988);
John J. Collins, Daniel. With an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature (The Forms of the Old Testament Literature, Volume XX) (Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans, 1984);
John J. Collins, "Daniel", in Karel van der Toorn - Bob Becking - Pieter W. van der Horst (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2nd, extensively revised edition, Leiden, Boston, Köln, Koninklijke Brill Academic Publishers; Grand Rapids, Michigan - Cambridge, U.K., William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), p. 219-220;
Jochen Garbsch - Bernhard Overbeck, Spätantike zwischen Heidentum und Christentum. Einführung und Katalog. Ausstellung der Prähistorischen Staatssammlung München in Verbindung mit der Staatlichen Münzsammlung München vom 20. Dezember 1989 bis 1. April 1990 (Ausstellungskataloge der Prähistorischen Staatssammlung, Band 17) (München, Prähistorische Staatssammlung, 1989);
Alexander Mlasowsky, Die antiken Tonlampen im Kestner-Museum Hannover (Sammlungskatalog 8) (Hannover, Kestner-Museum, 1993);
Scott B. Noegel - Brannon M. Wheeler, Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements, Volume 43) (Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, 2002);
Paul L. Redditt, Introduction to the Prophets (Grand Rapids, Michigan - Cambridge, U.K., William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008);
Choon Leong Seow, Daniel (Louisville - London, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), esp. p. 50-60;
William H. Shea, "Bel(te)shazzar Meets Belshazzar", Andrews University Seminary Studies Vol. 26 (1988), No. 1, p. 67-81.