Malian Iron Oil Lamp

Mali, after dark. A flame, a cup of oil, and a blacksmith’s idea of how to hold them.

Iron lamps of this kind were made by blacksmiths in the region, with small open cups for oil and a wick, and were often set into the ground or a wall. This one, 20th century, stands forty-three inches tall. A tall flat shaft rises to a shallow round dish, above which a horizontal bar carries two more upturned cups, each finished with a bent upright tab. Warm rusty brown, with darker patches and the irregular hammer marks of hand forging.

On a square base. Spare, architectural, and ready for a night shift.