Art collector David Breuer-Weil knew he had found an important piece of history when he came across a decorated oil lamp at a Dutch art fair. But, upon closer inspection, he found it was even more special than he thought.
The artefact was on sale at the last week of the prestigious TEFAF show in Maastricht, where it was described only as a “large Judean terracotta oil lamp”. But Mr Breuer-Weil suspected it had actually come from inside the winter palace in Jericho of King Herod the Great, who reigned over Judea from 37-4BCE.
“I was walking around TEFAF when I saw this piece — the design is very similar to pieces that were discovered in the Temple area in Jerusalem. I immediately got goose-bumps.
“I bought it straight away, even before doing any research, because if you snooze, you lose at these things. But when I went away and did some research, I realised it most likely actually came from Herod’s palace.”
