A well-made orange terracotta oil lamp, with decorated with a palm leaf type band around the filling hole, handle to rear.
 
1st-2nd century AD.
 
Very Fine condition, complete and intact
Length 8.8 cms (3.5 ins)
 
Provenance: Ex Judge Steve Adler coll., Jerusalem (Published in his catalogue, 2004, p. 49, no 278. See also group colour photo page 32 ). Exported with export approval licence of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
 
The "Darom", style gets its name from the lowland and desert region of Daroma in Judea. They were found predominantly in caves in the Judean desert and date from the specific short period between the Jewish war and the Bar Kochba revolt (Ca. 70 - 150 A.D). The clay is usually fine and the lamps have very thin sides, especially in the lamps found in the Judean area). Apparently displaced skilled stoneworkers, who retreated to this region after the first Jewish revolt, began making these lamps in stone moulds.
 
See our blog post: Oil lamps from the Jewish Holy Land from around the time of Jesus