Lamp in the form of Sphinx-like Sea Creature, c1510-1530, (1881). Etching of a bronze lamp (or inkstand?), made in the workshop of Severo da Ravenna, Italy, early 16th century. The piece is in the form of a siren or 'grotesque fish-tailed female form', mounted on a tripod base. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]