Byzantine-early Islamic lamp with snout channel and handle knob

In the basic form comparable with no. 162 c (O_23_u.re.), the stocky lamp body rests in this case, however, on three attached little feet. The wall break is accentuated by oblique, plastic faceting. On the top, two flat bars enclose the filler hole with its thickened rim as well as the smaller wick hole, creating a snout channel. The original crescent-shaped curved handle knob is broken off. The vessel shoulder is decorated with deeply relieved palm leaves with curled spiral ends and interspersed geometric filler ornaments, the spout channel is inscribed with a geometric cross pattern. The tongue handle type as it can be reconstructed for piece d (O_26.27) appears only since Umayyad-Abbasid times. Thus, it is attested in Kirbeth Mefjer (Palestine) only after the great earthquake of 746. The floor with its three legs is very unusual. The strikingly deep relief of several palmette leaves in a row with spirally rolled up ends originates from the Abbasid Samarra style, but can be traced back to Ayyubid times in Bethlehem, for example. Reddish brown (Fless 1997: 126)