Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made, with ring handle. Discus: a Nereid riding on a hippocampus to right, with billowing veil behind; a single filling hole at bottom towards nozzle, with a band of two grooves and a raised circle around discus. On shoulder, a row of impressed circular leaf patterns. Incise base ring, and a concave base. The detail of the scene is very indistinct. The back of the handle forms part of the molded body, with the upper part added by hand. 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