Terracotta oil lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Broneer Type 27C (Vessberg Type 16). Mold-made, with ring handle. Discus: in high relief, winged Eros, standing facing right but with head turned back over right shoulder, with lamp-holder in right hand and bowl of fruit in left, and flowing drapery to wither side of body; two filling holes, one at upper left, the other at lower right; band of liens and grooves around edge. On horizontal shoulder, tiny ovules interrupted by rectangular panels at sides. Rounded nozzle. Incised base ring, and slightly concave base. Intact. The hole in the handle has not been pierced through; maker's fingerprints visible on left side of handle.

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