Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Loeschcke Type 1A, with nozzle channel. Mold-made. Discus: circular frieze comprising cuirass at bottom behind nozzle, then clockwise, a large round shield, a helmet (?), two overlapping oval shields, a helmet and short sword, an oblong shield, a helmet, a small round shield, a pair of crossed greaves, a helmet, a square shield (?), a straight sword, a curved sword, and a large round shield; a central filling hole, surrounded by concentric lines and grooves, and a small air hole behind nozzle channel, with a band of close-set lines and grooves at edge. Volutes flanking nozzle. Within band of incised lines and grooves forming a base ring, a flat, sunken base, with impressed letters across center: FAVS, and a raised cross below. Intact, except for chip in front of nozzle. The inscription reads from the back. .

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