Clay Lamp with Jewish Symbols in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2010

Clay Lamp with Jewish Symbols
Byzantine
Made 350-450

Accession # 91.1.1621

This is one of the few surviving clay lamps decorated with Jewish symbols. It displays images found on other Jewish works in the case- a menorah flanked by an etrog (citron) and a lulav (palm branch), both indistinct.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.


Jewish Art in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine World

Jewish communities were found throughout the Empire during the late Roman and early Byzantine centuries. Preserved synagogues and archaeological remains of the period are often decorated with beautiful paintings or elaborate floor mosaics. These decorative programs include images found in contemporary monuments, such as birds, fruit trees, and fountains, imagery drawn from the Bible and the zodiac, as well as Jewish symbols– the shofar (ram's horn), menorah (branched lamp), lulav (palm branch), etrog (citron), and Torah shrine. These symbols identified Jewish patrons or monuments and appear frequently in the late Roman and early Byzantine art.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.