Terracotta oil lamp

Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made. Large discus: rosette with twelve petals, interspersed with stylized buds, radiating from a central handle or suspension knob, flanked by two filling holes facing each of the nozzles. Narrow, sloping shoulder. Large volutes flanking nozzles, with large wick holes. Double base ring, and flat base with central circle as maker's mark. Front of one nozzle and top of central handle missing; small chip broken and repaired on underside of surviving nozzle.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.