Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Loeschcke Type 1A. Mold-made. Discus: a rhinoceros stands, facing right, tossing with its horn a large cat, probably a lion, while a small animal, possibly meant to be a baby rhino, hides in a tree behind and above; a single filling hole below the rhinoceros's belly, with a band of lines and grooves around edge. Volutes flanking angular nozzle. Raised base ring, outlined by two incised circles, and a flat base with the marker's mark impressed across it, reading in Latin: FAVSTI. Intact. On the discus a rhinoceros is shown tossing with its horn a large cat, probably a lion, while a small animal, possibly meant to be a baby rhino, hides in a tree behind. The rhinoceros, unknown in the Mediterranean world before Roman times, is only rarely depicted in Roman art and on coins; it is shown, for example, on the Roman mosaic from Lod, Israel. The base is inscribed FAVSTI ([of the lamp maker] Faustus); he seems to have worked in Italy, Egypt, and Petra (Jordan), as well as Cyprus.

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