Recognising and understanding the object
- Materials
- glass, metal, wick
- Parts
- reservoir, burner, wick adjuster, glass chimney
- Purpose
- Illuminate a room by burning kerosene.
- Period
- Context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century household collections and historical accounts; individual objects differ in date.
- Place and distribution
- Household collections at Alytus and Kazimieras Būga museums.
What it is and how it works
A kerosene lamp has a fuel reservoir, wick and burner, often surrounded by a tall glass chimney. Alytus Museum identifies the small screw that adjusts the wick. These working parts help recognise a lamp even when its glass has disappeared.
Evidence and examples
The wick carries fuel to the flame, the adjuster changes its position, and the chimney surrounds the combustion area. These features reveal more about function than decoration on the base. Lamps also appear alongside everyday implements in the Kazimieras Būga Memorial Museum’s collection list.
How to identify it
Read a lamp’s description component by component: does a date refer to its reservoir, its complete assembly or a later reconstruction? An old burner and a newer chimney can belong to a set assembled later. This entry explains historical construction; surviving glass and a reservoir do not establish that an antique is fit to light.
