Indian Brass Oil Lamp

Long-nosed bowl with a high lip and a smooth brown skin.

This brass oil lamp from Karnataka is from Karnataka, South India, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. Lighting a lamp is generally taken to signify the dispelling of darkness and ignorance, and the practice appears in several South Asian religious traditions. Wide oval dish with a long, tapering spout stretching to one side, a thin rim and a short foot. The outside is smooth and brown, softly scuffed, with traces of green near the foot. The interior is dark and plain. It is 2.75 inches wide, 4 deep and 1.5 high.

All beak and bowl, with graceful proportions.