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27th April '10

Terracotta lamp moulds are much rarer than the limestone ones and are relatively expensive when they come onto the market.

 

 

 

 

 

 



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A rare find; a pair of Roman terracotta lamp moulds, probably from a workshop.

 






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  • Before the invention of the wheel in the Middle Bronze Age, lamps were made by hand.
  • An early type of slow  potter's wheel was invented in the Middle Bronze Age and used to manufacture lamps until around the 3rd century BC.
  • The use of moulds was first developed in Greece and Egypt during the 3rd century BC.  In Roman times, stone, usually limestone, terracotta, or plaster moulds were used on a large scale across the Roman Empire until around the 8th century.
  • To make a lamp, two moulds are needed: one for the upper part and one for the lower part. Some pairs of moulds have knobs and corresponding holes to fit the two moulds together.
  • In order to create the mold, an archetype or patrix is first made. Plaster or clay is then formed around the patrix, which dries and hardens into a mould. It can then be removed from the patrix and fired to make it more permanent. 

 

These bases are slightly differently shaped and 118mm and 122mm in length.  

 

One base mould has a ring base the other not.



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The top parts carry the same discus scene.

One top however has a vertical handle the other not.

From the shape of the nozzle one can say that these are first century.




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Interestingly , though the designs of man and hunting dog are the same, the actual sizes are just slightly different.

 




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It could well be that the smaller top part mould was actually made from taking an impression from an example of the lamp itself.

The slight shrinkage of the clay when drying  would account for the slightly smaller dimensions.

Against this is the apparent fact that the smaller of the top moulds is actually  clearer than the larger: if it were made from an actual lamp acting as the patrix one would have expected it to be slightly less clear.

 

I decided to make a lamp from one "set" to see what this could teach me about the process of using the moulds.

  





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The top and bottom are made separately, the excess clay trimmed off and then luted together with wet clay.

 







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Then it  became clear that this was the stage at which the filling hole should be  made. Though I made it too large!

 



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Continuing the process>>>