Terracotta lekanis (dish)

V. and A. Group

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the handles, griffins Reverse, one side, nude youths and women; other side, women, Eros, and youth Interior: wine wreath around a rosette. On each handle platform: griffin. Exterior: A: woman seated on a rock feeding a bird perched on her left knee while Eros flies toward her with a phiale and a wreath. To the left, a woman with a fan and a fillet. To the right, a nude youth with a branch. B: two couples: at the left, a nude youth with a branch follows a woman holding a wreath and a fan. At the right, a woman is seated holding a tendril. Her companion offers a mirror and a bunch of grapes.

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