Code: 13020
A Scottish vernacular double-pan 'Cruisie' or 'Betty' iron oil lamp, late 18th or early 19th Century, from the Scottish Highlands or Islands including Orkney.
Cruisie lamps are simple oil lamps traditionally used in homes in Orkney and the Scottish highlands. They are made by hammering thin sheets of iron into a mould then trimmed and filed smooth. They comprise of two pans, one slightly larger than the other. The upper smaller pan suspended over the larger lower pan allowing oil to drip from one to the other preventing waste.They would be hung on an adjustable ratchet which could alter the angle of the pan, to keep the oil flowing slowly forwards. The metal fixing at the top could be used as a hook or driven into a wall or beam. The oil used was mostly derived from fish livers or seal and whale blubber.
29cm high max drop.
