Terracotta amphora

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This diminutive amphora is in the "unpainted white ware" style, a descriptive term that calls attention to the plain light colored ground that lacks decoration. Excavation of tombs in Cyprus have brought to light numerous ceramic vessels in this style, suggesting that plain white ware was deemed especially appropriate for burial. Although this amphora is unpainted it exudes an aire of luxury; for its crisp potting, small scale, and smooth white surface may recall vessels made in alabaster, a popular medium in Cyprus.

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