Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made. Large discus: in high relief, an eagle facing right, with open wings and head turned back to left, seizing a hare, also running to right; a single filling hole between eagle's left wing and leg; narrow shoulder band decorated with close-set egg-and-dart. Volutes to sides of nozzle. Base ring comprising three raised concentric circles, and slightly uneven, plain base; two raised bands extend down side from ends of volutes to base ring. Broken with much of nozzle and back of discus and body missing.

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