Search the Collections

About the Collection

The RD Milns Antiquities Museum provides access to its online collection database for students, teachers, researchers and the public. Ranging in date from over 4000 BC to AD 600 and covering a geographical area from modern Iran to Wales, and Germany to Egypt, the RD Milns Antiquities Museum holds the largest publically available collection of ancient Mediterranean antiquities in Queensland.

By using the RD Milns Antiquities Museum Online Collection you agree to the conditions of the Copyright Statement below.

Image requests and general enquiries

Requests for access to images, information or objects held in the RD Milns Antiquities Museum should be completed through the online Collection Material Request Form. Further enquiries regarding the RD Milns Antiquities Museum collection should be directed to the Collections Manager.

Sponsors

The RD Milns Antiquities Museum database and website project was supported by strategic funds from the School of History and Philosophy, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, and the University of Queensland.

Copyright

No image or information displayed on this site may be reproduced, transmitted or copied other than for the purpose of fair dealing (e.g. for research and study) as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, without the permission of the RD Milns Antiquities Museum.

Note

The RD Milns Antiquities Museum makes every effort to provide up to date, accurate and complete information regarding its collection, however, researchers are encouraged to contact the Museum regarding individual items, as necessary. Additional information concerning objects is gratefully received.


to









By using the RD Milns Antiquities Museum Online Collection you agree to the conditions of the Copyright Statement below.

No image or information displayed on this site may be reproduced, transmitted or copied other than for the purpose of fair dealing (e.g. for research and study) as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, without the permission of the RD Milns Antiquities Museum.

Save, email and share your favourite resources

As you search RD Milns Antiquities Museum Online Collection you can add individual items to this page by clicking the 'Add to My Collection' button. Once you have finished your search you can then email, print, or share your results with social media by using the tools at the bottom of the page.

By using the RD Milns Antiquities Museum Online Collection you agree to the conditions of the Copyright Statement below.

Add to my collection

Lamp with Jonah and Sea-Monster AD 400 - 500

LAMP
MOLDING
TERRACOTTA
Standard 51 x 87 x 146 Millimetres
95.003
An African red slip ware lamp, Hayes Type II, with a round body and long nozzle, flat top, concave circular discus and projecting lug handle at the rear. Underneath there is a low ring base that joins a ridge that runs to meet the bottom edge of the handle. Inside the ring base there are two grooved concentric circles, pierced by a hole on the side nearest the nozzle. The wick hole is large and round. Relief patterns decorate the rim and on the discus there is a relief figure of Jonah reclining under the gourds plus a sea monster or ketos and two round filling-holes. The clay is pinkish orange-red in colour with a rough, matt surface. Some white incrustation is present on the upper surface, particularly around the relief mouldings, and grey material covers part of the base. Function: used to burn oil to provide light or as a funerary or votive offering with its symbolic Christian decoration showing an example of divine intervention and suggesting the possibility of redemption. Decoration: A) Rim: the relief patterns are arranged within shallow U-shaped panels, framed by relief lines, and consist of alternating ivy leaves and dolphins. B) Discus: filling the centre and left side is the relief figure of a sea monster or ketos, shown in profile with body facing left, but head twisted around at the end of a sinuous neck, looking right (towards Jonah). Its large eye is almond-shaped and fringed with lashes. There is a pronounced snout, two ears or horns and a long wispy beard beneath the lower jaw. The neck is decorated with pairs of horizontal lines and the large, bulbous body has dotted patterns arranged in zig-zags. The limbs are short. The figure of Jonah is compressed in the channel leading to the wick hole on the nozzle. There is very little detail, but he is reclining on his left arm with his head to the right and his raised right arm bending around behind his head. A hatched, wavy relief line indicates the ground-line and the gourds hang vertically above him, suspended from a horizontal relief line that is slightly bent in the middle. C) Base: there is a pair of impressed concentric circles inside the base-ring.
Purchased from Charles Ede Ltd, London, 1995


No image or information displayed on this site may be reproduced, transmitted or copied other than for the purpose of fair dealing (e.g. for research and study) as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, without the permission of the RD Milns Antiquities Museum.