Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made, with low, unpierced handle. Discus: radiating from a central filling hole, a degenerate rosette or fan, with each petal decorated with a hollow dot, surrounded by a raised band attached to handle at back and with an inverted V-shape at front, between it and the wick hole, a relief floral pattern; on shoulder, a band decorated with hollow dots between two grooves. Shallow raised base ring, and slightly concave base. Intact.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art