Two Christian oil lamps. North Africa, 4th-5th centuries

Two Christian oil lamps. North Africa, 4th-5th centuries.
Terracotta.
Measurements: 14.3 cm and 14.5 cm.

One of the two lamps takes the form of a dove. The word lucerna comes from the Greek "lukno". Its basic function was to give light, but it was also used as a votive and funerary element. Despite the fact that the skylight we present here is made of bronze, the first skylights were made by hand, then by lathe, and from the 3rd century B.C. onwards by mold. The mold consisted of two dies, one for the upper part and one for the lower part. The mold manufacturing technique consisted of pressing the clay into the dies and then joining the two parts together.