Terracotta pyxis with lid

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pyxis was a container used to hold cosmetics, jewelry, and other small items. The friezes of real and fantastic animals decorating this example are characteristic of Corinthian art. The style and subject matter were strongly influenced by the art of the ancient Near East. In the 7th century B.C., the Greeks came into close contact with their neighbors to the east, where repetitive bands of animal decoration were common.

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