I'd like to share some research I've recently been doing about the 'Lamp of Knowledge' seen here represented in the Entrance Hall at #BurlingtonHouse #SocAntiquaries https://www.sal.org.uk/collections/explore-our-collections/collections-highlights/lamp-of-knowledge/ 1/

The lamp was discovered at St Leonard's Hill, #Windsor in the early 18th century, exhibited @SocAntiquaries & was the subject of the first engraving in Vestuta Monumenta. It was presented to the Society in 1736 & was adopted as the Society's 'symbol of ticket' #SocAntiquaries 2/

Originally believed to be #Roman, later research (during the 20th century) demonstrated that it was #medieval in date, and in 2000 it was identified as a #Jewish #Sabbath lamp #SocAntiquaries 3/

There are a number of published comparative examples, summarised by Bruce Watson FSA in 2014 article. These include one with 3 spouts from #Bristol (excavated in the 1970s) & antiquarian finds from #Lincoln (published by @royalarchinst) & #London - an ornate 12th century lamp 4/

Also noted by Watson are a now-lost (?) lamp from #Dijon ( #France), one in #Erfurt Cathedral (Germany) & one held in @TheJewishMuseum, also originally from #Germany #SocAntiquaries 5/

Further examples are referred to in literature, including #lamps from #Samur , #Leiden & #Cologne @koeln_museum , while another, now in #Copenhagen turned up in online searches. I am enormously grateful to #curators across for information about these lamps 6/

Searching online, I found other #lamps, listed on Ebay & auction sites, and published in histories of illumination - such as these ranging in date from 14th -17th centuries #SocAntiquaries 7/

The most similar examples came from a very wide geographic range and a chronology stretching across hundreds of years from 13th-17th centuries #SocAntiquaries 8/

#Sabbath lamps are depicted in #Jewish domestic settings in documents & drawings, like these 18th century examples & earlier on an #Italian bridal chest from the 15th century - associated with the women who lit them. #SocAntiquaries 9/

Also from the 15th century are depictions in illuminated #Haggadah manuscripts, showing the star-shaped #lamps over #Passover #Seder settings #SocAntiquaries 10/

But the earliest #medieval image shows a star-shaped lamp in a #synagogue - from a #German #Judaic prayer book of c 1300 held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in #Milan #SocAntiquaries 11/

Which got me thinking about #medieval lighting in ecclesiastical & domestic #Christian contexts....there don't seem to be any #lamps depicted in 13th century wall paintings, manuscripts or stained-glass (eg @no1cathedral) that are star-shaped? #SocAntiquaries 12/

#Archaeological (excavated) examples of #medieval lights from domestic contexts are comparatively rare (of glass, stone or ceramic), and again, not star-shaped (or of copper alloy) #SocAntiquaries 13/

So, what can we say about the @SocAntiquaries #lamp set against this background? As a #Jewish religious artefact, it may be earlier than the presently ascribed 14th century date, given the expulsion of the Jewish community from England in AD1290? #SocAntiquaries 14/

The #lamp was apparently found 'under a stone' (in 1717-18) with a lot (a hoard?) of other artefacts, including Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman items. This raises *questions* #SocAntiquaries 15/

It would be so interesting to know more about the archaeometallurgy of these #lamps, particularly compared with other #medieval copper-alloy artefacts of #Jewish manufacture, like the #BodleianBowl of AD1260 @AshmoleanMuseum #SocAntiquaries 16/

This quote from @RebeccaAbrams2 about her work on #Jewish art and artefacts @AshmoleanMuseum
speaks, I feel, to the study of these #lamps too:
‘Like stars in a complex constellation, these objects convey the sweep of #Jewish history’ #SocAntiquaries 17/

If you'd like to see the lecture about the #lamp presented
@SocAntiquaries Miscellany it's online here: .
I hope to be able to write something about this research in future & I am v excited to learn more about work underway in #Erfurt #SocAntiquaries fin/