Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1540. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ROMAN. North Africa. Pottery Red Ware Oil Lamp. Circa AD 350-425. Mold-formed with appliquéd decoration on discus and shoulder. Central motif depicting Daniel in the Lion’s Den: Daniel standing facing in orans position; angel to upper left, Habakkuk holding bread to upper right, submissive lions to either side of Daniel’s feet. Shoulder decorated with alternating square and circular ornaments and terminal triangular ornaments. Spur handle and holes for venting and filling. Length: 13.4cm. Cf. A. Ennabli, Lampes chrétiennes de Tuniesie (Musées du Bardo et de Carthage) (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1976), 32. Central impression a bit weak. Some encrustion, cracks, and minor repairs, otherwise in choice condition.

Ex the Dr. Robert B. Beckett Collection. Ex Antiqua XI (2002), lot A23, d.
A popular motif of the Early Christian period, Daniel’s sentence to and deliverance from the Lion’s Den was viewed as a typological prefigurement of Christ’s death and resurrection.