Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vessberg Type 18. Mold-made, with unpierced handle. Discus: cross decorated with small circles and straight lines on arms, with groups of similar circles between the arms. Two filling holes at sides. On shoulder, palm wreath surrounded by hollow circles. Large wick hole. Undefined, slightly concave base. Complete, except for part of handle.

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