Terracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lamp

Terracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wheel-made with edge folded in to form two wick rests; narrow rim, with rounded lip; broad, sloping, open body; between nozzles, a solid handle, tapering towards end and shaped into a curve to fit hand; undefined, convex base. Body complete, but handle broken and repaired at joint with body and half way along length, with small losses at breaks.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lampTerracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lampTerracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lampTerracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lampTerracotta handled saucer-shaped oil lamp

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.