Terracotta jug

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two figures and two birds flanking a lotus composition Closely related to 74.51.510, this vase depicts two human figures and two birds flanking a central lotus composition that is the equivalent of a sacred tree. The figures wear long garments, trousers, and shoes; their sex is not readily identifiable. Each looks toward the bird behind him, one bending forward, the other upright. The representation may pertain to an Oriental deity that has power over animals.

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