268
This form is a later variant derived from Deneauve type V F = Bisi Ingrassia type VIII E, dated to the second half of the first century A.D. Just like those two types, this variant has an elongated oval body and wide rounded shoulders curving into the nozzle in a manner reminiscent of the shoulder-volutes of lamps of Loeschcke type V; the shoulders leave a shallow channel between the discus and the wick-hole. But the discus of the variant is plain and no longer decorated with an oval egg-shaped ridge. The variant represented by cat. 268 is identical to Bussière’s Algerian lamp no. 729 (Bussière 2000, p. 276, no. 729, pl. 48), which belongs to the first series of Bussière type C V 2 and is signed CTESO, an African workshop active during the first half of the second century A.D. Besides Algerian lamp no. 729, CTESO’s signature appears on another Algerian lamp of the same shape but belonging to the second series, that is, with decorated shoulders (Bussière 2000, p. 276, no. 735, pl. 48), and on three additional Algerian lamps of Loeschcke type VIII (Bussière 2000, pp. 317, 329, 332, nos. 2200, 2541, 2639, pls. 61 and 68). The date of this type, including all series, covers a long span of time in the second and third centuries A.D. But the first series, to which the Getty lamp belongs, can be dated earlier, that is, to the first half of the second century A.D., thanks to the CTESO signature on Algerian lamp no. 735.