Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made, with tall ring handle. Plain, deep discus, surrounded by a raised band flanked by two grooves. Broad, almost horizontal shoulder decorated with a raised pattern of rounded tongues, each with a central rib, radiating outward from edge of the discus and ending at the front in spirals forming the volutes flanking the back of the nozzle, with a large wick hole. Narrow handle, with large round finger hole, decorated with three incised lines, running along the front and top of the handle. An incised base ring, and a broad, flat base. The front of the handle added and joined to back that forms part of the molded body. 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