The small bronze lamp has a folding handle in the shape of a shell. The lid has the form of a Satyr's head, or, according to a different interpretation, the head of the Egyptian god Bes. Both deities, Greek and Egyptian, were related to the ideas of fertility and well-being. The lampstand (to which it is fitted by means of a pricket) has a tripod base with supports in the form of lions' paws, a feature found on stands throughout late antiquity, including in Oxfordshire, England.
The shell had a dual Christian/pagan symbolism in late antiquity, being connected with Venus, and was also widely used to symbolise the voyage of the soul to the Blessed Isles, in other words, immortality of the soul.
