A dealer going under a number of different names on EBay has just been convicted in Worcester Crown Court, is in custody and will be sentenced tomorrow. Meanwhile, he is still offering a wide range of artefacts from his account:
ancient-antiques, like this
SUPERB ANCIENT ROMAN TERRACOTTA EROTIC SCENE OIL LAMP [...] FROM PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION c1980S. [...]
WE WILL POST WORLDWIDE THANK THANK YOU. [...]
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY ON REQUEST THANK YOU [...] EVERYTHING I SELL IS AS THE LISTING AND PICTURES PROVIDED AND 100% ACCURATE [...] THANK YOU..
Thank you. David Knell says we should not call them "oil" lamps, as there was no other kind of lamp. I'd say the only adjective in the object name that is likely to be accurate is "terracotta". It is quite nice in an awkward kind of way, but not "superb", and whether the scene actually is "erotic" is a question of taste I guess.
... there was no other kind of lamp
ReplyDeleteHa! There *were* other kinds of lamp - some burnt animal fat - but they are distinctive exceptions. The huge majority were fuelled by oil and it seems as pedantically pointless to insist on describing those as "oil lamps" as it is to describe typical domestic vehicles as "motor cars". I think we can safely skip redundant adjectives unless an object is an exception to the rule.
Incidentally, perhaps they should have considered adding fraud to the seller's convictions. Not only is that lamp a modern Bulgarian fake, the provenance "c1980s" is likewise questionable since they weren't made that early. As for his other dubious items, his NEAR EASTERN SONE TABLET (sic) just brings me out in giggles. No wonder he is so repeatedly thankful to the people who actually buy such rubbish.
He should also have been charged with causing a public nuisance. There's nothing more irritating than people who type in ALL-CAPS.