Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made. Raised, concave, plain discus, with a single, central filling hole, and a groove at front; shoulder decorated with gadroons, interrupted at back by vestigial handle; small nozzle, with arched ridges at back and upright wick hole. Rounded base, decorated with an incised diamond at center and two arched grooves at front. Broken and repaired, with right side of nozzle missing, a hole in body at left below shoulder, and several other chipped areas.

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