A small lamp with a short nozzle and flat rim is embedded in a deeper bowl and attached to a vertical handle decorated on the front with a figure of Bes. Incised in the Cypriot syllabary on the rim of the lamp is the inscription "of Philotimos," who was perhaps the maker or owner.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta lamp representing Bes
Period:Cypro-Archaic II
Date:end of 6th century BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Terracotta; mold-made and hand-made
Dimensions:9 3/16 in., 1 lb. (23.3 cm)
Classification:Cesnola Inscriptions
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Accession Number:74.51.2364
Inscription: Inscribed in Cypriot syllabary on rim: "[I am the lamp] of Philotimos"
Said to be from Rizokarpasso, Karpasia, Cyprus
Hall, Isaac H. 1874. "Cypriote Inscriptions of the Di Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 10: no. 17, p. 211, pl. IV.
Hall, Isaac H. 1875. "The Cypriote Inscriptions of the Di Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 10: no. 17, p. 211, pl. IV.
Schmidt, Moritz. 1876. Sammlung kyprischer Inschriften in epichorischer Schrift. pl. 21.3, Jena: Hermann Dufft.
Birch, Samuel. 1876. "On Some Cypriote Antiquities Discovered by General di Cesnola at Golgoi." Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 4. p. 21.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1877. Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence in That Island. pl. VIII.56, London: John Murray.
Deecke, Wilhelm. 1884. Die griechisch-Kyprischen Inschriften in epichorischer Schrift. p. 142, Göttingen.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. CXLII.1059, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Hall, Isaac H. 1885. "The Cypriot Inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection in New York." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 11: no. 142, p. 231.
Hoffmann, Otto. 1891. Die griechischen Dialekte in ihrem historischen Zusammenhange mit den wichtigsten ihrer Quellen. 1. Der süd-achäische Dialekt. no. 55, p. 43, Göttingen.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1894. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 2. pl. CXLII.1059, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1903. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 3. pl. CXL.14, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1855, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Masson, Olivier. 1961. Les Inscriptions Chypriotes Syllabiques: Recueil Critique et Commenté. no. 329, p. 329, Paris: E. de Boccard.
Masson, Olivier. 1971. "Inscriptions chypriotes retrouvees ou disparues." Syria, 48(Fasc. 3/4). p. 448 n. 5, fig. 13.
Wilson, Veronica. 1975. "The Iconography of Bes with Particular Reference to the Cypriot Evidence." Levant, 7. no. 8, p. 102.
Sophocleous, Sophocles. 1985. ""Atlas des représentations chypro-archaiques des divinités." Master's Diss.." Master's Diss. no. 3, p. 168. Paul Aströms Förlag.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1986. Vol. 3: Atherion-Eros. "Bes (Cypri et in Phoenicia)," p. 110, no. 23, pl. 88, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 289, pp. 176–77, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Gloria Merker, and Joan R. Mertens. 2016. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Terracottas. no. 121, pp. 74, 257, Online Publication, [CD-Rom 2004], New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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