Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made. Almost triangular body. Central filling hole, surrounded by a broad band. Sloping shoulder, decorated in relief with two standing figures with legs to front and heads almost touching at back; at left, a female wearing a long chiton, and at right, a male in a short tunic; around edge, beaded pattern; at sides, projecting knobs with S-pattern, and on top of nozzle, straight grooves and above two indents. Long, straight nozzle. Broad base ring, and small, uneven base. Complete, except for left front edge of nozzle and small hole in base.

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