Late-Roman Lamp-mould

Complete upper half of a gypsum lamp mould. The central discuss has been stamped with a reverse Christogram,the Chi-Rho,a monogram for Christ and one of the oldest forms of a Christogram and Christian symbols. The circular shoulder surrounding the discuss has been stamped with a series of three concentric circles interspersed with floral and leaf motifs. On the outer edges of the mould,four indents,which appear to be finger marks,can be observed. The use of a mould such as this,resulted in the production of large volumes of lamps of a standardised quality,as a result this method of production became increasingly popular.