Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Carinated body. Mold-made. Small, plain discus with central filling hole; narrow channel between discus and nozzle, flanked by large volutes. Broad, sloping shoulder decorated with elongated, rounded tongues in high relief, marked out by incised lines. Broad base ring, flanked by two incised circles, and a flat base with incised letter I at center; two curving incised lines on underside of body to either side of nozzle, with two short incised lines at center, vertical above and horizontal below. Complete, except for a small hole in front edge of nozzle.

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