Terracotta vase in the shape of a cockerel

Terracotta vase in the shape of a cockerel

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small vase, inscribed with the twenty-six letters of the Etruscan alphabet, may have been a container for ink. The head acts as a stopper and could be attached to the bird’s body by a cord. The missing tail no doubt curved downward to form a third foot.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta vase in the shape of a cockerelTerracotta vase in the shape of a cockerelTerracotta vase in the shape of a cockerelTerracotta vase in the shape of a cockerelTerracotta vase in the shape of a cockerel

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.