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Source Description
This lamp is shaped like a foot wearing a sandal and is topped by a rod with a serpent crowned by a sun disk. Lamps played an important role in the rituals connected to the solar aspects of Harpocrates and Serapis, as well as in the Isis mysteries. The Serapis-foot demonstrated the god's eternal presence. These feet were mostly combined with a bust of the deity, and this lamp likely had such an image of Serapis on the lid.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
34232
label
Lamp in the Form of a Foot with a Serpent
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
34232
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Lamp in the Form of a Foot with a Serpent
description
This lamp is shaped like a foot wearing a sandal and is topped by a rod with a serpent crowned by a sun disk. Lamps played an important role in the rituals connected to the solar aspects of Harpocrates and Serapis, as well as in the Isis mysteries. The Serapis-foot demonstrated the god's eternal presence. These feet were mostly combined with a bust of the deity, and this lamp likely had such an image of Serapis on the lid.
provenance
Giovanni Dattari, Cairo, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Lambros-Dattari Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1912, June 17-19, 1912, p. 53, no. 460; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1912, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1st century CE
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
lamps (lighting device components)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
10.8
height
3.4
dimensionsRaw
4 1/4 x 1 5/16 in. (10.8 x 3.4 cm)
Source extras
cul
Roman
med
bronze
creator_ids
6191
collection_ids
ROM
exhibition_ids
309
2189
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
787bbd50e8bbef35