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 rim, with narrow, flaring lip and concave, narrow band below on exterior; convex-curving side; slightly flaring base ring; broad, flat base; small, raised center on interior of bottom; two ring handles on upper body, with projecting supports below; above each ring, thumb-rest, slanting upward and flanked by finials. Decoration: matching pattern in high relief on both sides; two confronted sprays: at left, vine or sycamore leaves; at right, ivy leaves and berries; all issuing from ties at top of sides, concealed by the handle. Above decoration, narrow band of ovules. Raised circle on inner edge of base ring; raised circle towards center of base. On upper surface of handles: in the middle two raised ridges run across top, with three bud-like knobs at the end; the finials are shaped as birds' heads. Intact, but one long firing crack across bottom. Lead-glazed cup with floral sprays in relief made at Tarsus in Cilicia (southern Asia Minor).

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