Oil Lamps

Oil lamps have been used to provide light as well being vial components in religious rituals. Called a diya when it is used daily by Hindus throughout the Indian subcontinent, they are made of clay, brass or other copper/metal alloys and gold and silver for the rich. Clay lamps are usually used with a cotton wick and oil or clarified butter (ghee) as a short term light source for special occasions and ceremonies or on a daily basis for prayer rituals performed in the home or at temples for devotional worship of or showing reverence to Hindu deities (puja). Metal diyas are more permanent fixtures in the home and in temples and are also used to celebrate all kinds of events including a wish to honor a guest’s arrival, celebrate the passing or recall the memory of a loved one, or celebrate almost any important life event. Metal diyas are usually one-of-a-kind hand-cast pieces made using the lost wax method where each mold is hand-made and destroyed in the casting process. Hindus believe that diyas are essential, as light itself is the absence of darkness and where evil forces dwell. Therefore, light and the act of lighting a lamp signifies purity, virtuosity, goodness and brings one good luck and power. Antique oil lamps were found throughout the Roman Empire catacombs as manifestations of the presence of the divine. Our collection also includes carved wood oil lamps.

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  • Antique Brass Vishnu Oil Lamp (Diya), India (9571B-PAH) $165

    $165.00
    Ht: 3.75”  W: 3”  D: 3.5” | FREE SHIPPING

    This heavy antique brass oil lamp is devoted to Vishnu with symbols for him and his consort Lakshmi who together are the paradigm for rituals and ceremonies of a blessed Hindu marriage. Used on a home or temple altar for daily prayers (puja), it has with a yoni shaped cup to store oil, a lotus top and a mark of Vishnu that his devotees wear on their forehead to indicate their spiritual affiliation.

     

  • Antique Hindu Peacock Oil Lamp, India (9526BEB) $365

    $365.00
    H: 13″  W: 8.5 ”  D: 4.75  ”  | FREE SHIPPING!

    This graceful brass oil lamp is topped by two peacocks, a large one that held oil and a smaller one decorated with striated lines. sitting high on a thin mount with  a spiral base. It was used for Hindu prayer rituals (puja) in the home or at temples and for devotional worship. This fine lost wax lamp with a soft patina is a one-of-a-kind piece. Often used in Hindu religious sculptures, peacocks have a strong religious tradition and represent harmony, joy and beauty and the time cycle.

     

  • Antique Lakshmi Oil Lamp, India (9508D-PBE) $245

    $245.00
    H: 5″    W: 3.25 ”    D:3.875  ”    | FREE SHIPPING!

    This brass oil lamp diya is decorated with an image on front and back of Lakshmi seated on a lotus, full-breasted and broad hipped, beneficently smiling and being lustrated (showered by water) by a pair of elephants, symbolizing rain clouds bringing water and life to the land and that unwavering effort to adhere to spiritual teachings and governed by wisdom and purity leads to both material and spiritual prosperity.

     

     

     

  • Antique Pair of Double Happiness Oil Lamps, China (16915BAE) $295

    $295.00
    H: 9.5″  W: 5.25″  D” 3.5″ | FREE SHIPPING

    Each of the antique carved wood oil lamps of this pair is filled with auspicious symbols to bring health, wealth and happiness to its owner – both in the past and in the present. Their vertical shafts are composed of stylized double happiness characters mounted on a rounded stand on four feet. Painted in gold and red for good luck, their articulated decorative rectangular tops are covered with carved lozenge designs and five-leaf plum blossoms on each side.

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  • Antique Wood Oil Lamp Double Fish Design, China (16902A-POK) $295

    $295.00
    H: 33″  W: 5.75″  D: 8″| FOR SHIPPING INFORMATION CONTACT US AT 213-568-3030

    Oil lamps were a form of lighting similar to candles using a small pool of oil with a cord wick in the center.This tall unique wood carved lamp anchored by on a square stone stand has the area holding the oil jutted out halfway up the piece in the center of a lotus seed pod placed on a lotus leaf, topped by a pair of facing fish with finely detailed scales symbolizing harmony, marital happiness and  double fish  mean “may there be abundance” (especially for sons). It was probably a wedding gift and would be a unique one today.

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  • Antique Wood Oil Lamp with Double Fish, Lotus Design, China (16902B-POK) $295

    $295.00
    H: 33″  W: 5.75″  D: 8″ | FOR SHIPPING INFORMATION CONTACT US AT 213-568-3030

    This tall unique hand-carved wood oil lamp is beautifully decorated with auspicious symbols to entice positive energy and luck in marriage and the arrival of many sons.: on top a pair of finely carved fish,  a lotus seed pod on a lotus leaf  to hold the oil and a base with a round lotus shape atop a square stone. In excellent condition, it was a well-used piece demonstrated by charred edges on the oil cup from the wick burning until all the oil was depleted.

     

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  • Antique/Vintage Votive Silver Puja Spoon, India (3892BES) $185

    $185.00
    H: 6.625:  W: 1.625″  D: 0.25″ FREE SHIPPING!

    This finely crafted vintage votive silver spoon was part of an array of objects used for daily Hindu prayers (puja) which were arranged on a puja tray. Solidly cast, it is embellished with beautify flowing and lyrical incising from the elaborate handle down to and including the inside of the spoon it is covered with gorgeous linear designs, florals and stylized lotuses bordered with a stylized rope motif.

  • SOLD Ancient Catacomb Terracotta Oil Lamp, Roman Empire (1885A-WAR)

    $155.00
    SOLD

    This Roman catacomb terracotta oil lamp is a basic, undecorated, and functional lamp beautiful in its simplicity. It is a well moulded piece with a finely rounded circular body, a short raised rim surrounding the fill hole centered in the middle, and has a hand made spatulate nozzle added to its body. The nozzle extends out with flat angular ridges and a wide opening to accommodate the wick which extends from inside the lamp,through the nozzle, and then reaches over its edge. It has no handle but, like all such lamps, it has a flat bottom to rest comfortably and securely on any surface.  Much of the original crème slip on this lamp remains and has turned a brownish-beige from the soil in which it was buried underground. There are minor chips the rim atop the fuel chamber and projecting nozzle and is otherwise is very good condition.

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