Two Ceramic Oil-lamps from Sesimbra Castle near Setúbal: 11th to 12th centuries AD

These Medieval oil-lamps look like the descendants of the portable clay oil-lamps popularised by the Romans. Instead of being mass-produced in moulds, they are even more simply and cheaply made, by throwing a flat-bottomed shallow dish on the wheel, then pinching a spout and adding a simple handle while the clay was still wet.

Like the Roman lamps they rested on a flat surface, and used a wick saturated in vegetable oil, but unlike the Roman lamps, would not have been easily portable without covers.

© 1998 Oxfordshire Museum Service, Setúbal Museums and the Benaki Museum