Lamps with handle

Bailey arranges the lamps of his type C ( = Loeschcke V) into five groups, all with a handle. Three Getty lamps (cats. 248–50) belong to his group i, which he dates Late Claudian to Trajanic. We are inclined to assign cat. 248 to the mid-first century A.D. because of its slim nozzle and base-ring. It is not easy to decide if cat. 251 actually belongs to Bailey group iii or not. We assign this lamp to Loeschcke shoulder form VI a, while Bailey attributes another form to the two lamps of his group iii. Three lamps (cats. 248 and 250–51) have a plain planta pedis. The discus decors of cats. 248–51 are all related to mythology.

The fourteen Getty lamps falling into Bailey’s group iv are very similar. They all have Loeschcke shoulder form VII b, a flat base marked off by one circular groove, and almost all have a workshop signature in tria nomina. CCLOSVC appears five times; LMADIEC three times; LMVNSVC twice; one signature in tria nomina is illegible; and cat. 254 has three initials, MSV, with an unclear fourth letter underneath. The three first signatures appear frequently on lamps found in Africa. Their workshops, commonly accepted as being Italian rather than African, exported a lot of their products to Africa, or possibly even had branches operating there. They produced lamps of different types during a period from Late Flavian to Trajanic and even Hadrianic. The Getty lamps of Loeschcke type V were manufactured in Late Flavian to Trajanic times, but not later.

Seven discus decors are related to mythology; three to everyday life; one to the circus; one to animals; and two are symplegmata.

Cat. 265 alone falls into Bailey’s group v. Its slim nozzle and its base-ring suggest an early date in the wide range Bailey proposes for his group v: Neronian to Hadrianic. The Neronian period for this lamp is suggested here.