Terracotta lead-glazed scyphus (drinking cup)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mold-made body, with applied handles. Pale green exterior and yellow-brown interior. Vertical, rounded rim, with flaring band below on interior, forming horizontal ridge; convex-curving side, tapering to flaring base ring; flat base; two ring handles on upper body, with round stud at top and outward angular projection at bottom; above each ring, horizontal thumb-rest, flaring to straight ends and flanked by volutes and finials. Decoration: matching pattern in relief on both sides; two vine tendrils with leaves and bunches of grapes, facing inward; at center, above ends of vines, a rosette with a central dot and eight pointed petals; tendrils hang from a large, vertical ribbon, round at bottom, whose top is concealed by the handle. Above decoration, two horizontal grooves; below, a raised horizontal line. Groove on bottom of base ring; raised circle around edge of base. Most of one ring handle missing, but body intact. A jagged knob is attached to the interior near the bottom, which with two other spots form a triangle, indicating a kiln spacer tripod was placed inside the cup during firing.

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