Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vessberg Type 20. Mold-made. Deep, lentoid shape, with impressed decoration. Large, oval central filling hole, surrounded by a rosette pattern comprising seven circular petals, interspersed with indistinct tongues; towards edge, two concentric grooves, the outer one broken by the front edge of the wick hole. On the uneven base, traces of circular grooves. 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