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Oil Lamp with Bound Prisoner

Meroitic (Artist)
1st century BCE-2nd century CE (Meroitic)
bronze
(Ancient Egypt and Nubia )

Elaborate oil lamps with figural attachments were common at the royal court in the ancient kingdom of Meroë. This lamp depicts a captive nude prisoner, his hands bound to his ankles. The lamp would have been suspended by a chain from the collar around the figure's neck. A Meroitic symbol, perhaps an owner's mark, is incised on the prisoner's shoulders.

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Guilhou Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 16-18 March 1905, lot 307 [said to be found in Egypt]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1905, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

2012-2013 Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton.
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Geographies

Egypt (Place of Origin)

Measurements

W: 4 1/8 x D: 3 9/16 x L: 10 in. (10.4 x 9 x 25.4 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1905

Location in Museum

Centre Street: Second Floor: Egyptian Art

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

54.1549

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