Indian Oil Lamp with Cross Motif

A pointed dish with a spiky halo behind it and a bold cross in front.

This brass oil lamp with cross motif is from Karnataka, South India, and dates to the 20th century. It is brass, copper & alloy. Brass oil lamps are common across South India, and Christian communities there, including long-established ones in the south, have often used lamps in domestic and church settings. A teardrop-shaped basin tapers to a sharp tip below a tall backplate fringed with fine spikes. A raised cross sits on a stepped base between scrolls, and the top ends in a faceted point. Reddish to dark with green traces. It is 3.75 inches wide, 3 deep and 3.5 high.

Halo, cross, tray, and not one wasted millimeter.