From Hestia’s Sacred Fire to Christ’s Eternal Light: Ancient and Medieval Lamps from the Bogue Collection
March 14 – May 17, 2009
Oil lamps were essential objects of daily life in ancient and medieval times, and every household would have owned several. Like other ceramics, the simplest oil lamps were plain and purely functional, while others contained ornamental and/or figural relief scenes, often taken from mythological or religious contexts. The exhibition features between 30-50 oil lamps from the Bogue collection at Portland State University.