Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On discus in high relief: naked male figure (Dionysus?) lying full length on an ornate couch, with right arm raised behind his head and left arm dropping down over edge of the couch; at either end of the couch, two small goats, facing inward, standing on rocky outcrops; at top, behind figure a pedum and rectangular object; single filing hole at bottom center under couch. Narrow continuous shoulder decorated with close-set diagonal lines. Volutes flanking large nozzle. Raised base ring with incised Greek letters at center: AT. Broken, with front of nozzle missing and surface loss to left side of body. Red slip.

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