
Terracotta oil lamp
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Loeschcke Type 8. Unpierced handle. Mold-made. Discus: within a raised circle surrounding a Chi-Rho (?) with hollow circles between arms; two filling holes at top and bottom across raised circle. Shoulder: a herring-bone wreath around edge of discus, and vine scroll towards edge. Large wick hole. Undefined, concave base. Broken and repaired along seam, with one hole on left side and from edge of nozzle missing.
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.