Lead wick holder

In the western Mediterranean, the small fittings used to centre the wick in 6th-century glass lamps were most often strips of lead 10 to 15 cm long.

These thin strips (0.2 to 0.4 cm thick), 0.5 to 1 cm wide, have tapered ends; the central part, widened and pierced with a hole, is cut into an oval or a circle. The wick was passed through this hole and the ends, often found bent over, hooked onto the rim of the lamp.

Whereas the ceramic holders could only suit glass and clay lamps with a shallow reservoir, the metal fittings, always provided with long arms, were designed for deep vessels, apparently only in glass. These lead wick holders, like the previous ones, suited a wide variety of glass lamps. Several of these fittings have come down to us deformed, as is to be expected, in the position they had when in use.