Bronze Lamp

1962.333.1

Information

Cast bronze lamp in the form of a human (male?) head. The stylised hair is arranged in incised waves reaching g to the ears. The oil hole is on the crown of the head with a once hinged-lid now missing. The burner is in the base of the flattened neck. From an X-group grave at Qasr Ibrim. Compare with a similar lamp in the form of a male head cast in bronze with silver and garnet inlays in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo (no. JE 71124). For three years at an annual subscription of £125 the museum supported the British National Committee for Nubian Antiquities to assist in the UNESCO organised international exploration of the Nile Valley area that was to be flooded by the building of the Aswan High Dam. At the time (1960) the Egyptian government had passed a new antiquities law whereby (excluding unique objects) a half share of the objects found during excavations could be exported. In return for Liverpool's support the Egypt Exploration Society allotted three objects to the museum (1962.333.1-3) on 24th November 1962.