Terracotta female figure in three-legged chair

Terracotta female figure in three-legged chair

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Miniature tripod chairs, both empty and with seated figures, have been found at many religious, domestic, and burial sites of the Mycenaean period. They likely had some special significance and have often been interpreted as thrones for deities. The figures take the same form as freestanding female statuettes that may depict goddesses. A terracotta group with the same composition (31.11.8), dated to the eighth century bce, is exhibited nearby.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta female figure in three-legged chairTerracotta female figure in three-legged chairTerracotta female figure in three-legged chairTerracotta female figure in three-legged chairTerracotta female figure in three-legged chair

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.