Terracotta model of a "cart"

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Three figures are shown reclining on a horizontal surface with wheels. The larger figures, man and woman, support themselves on cushions while the third, smaller person plays the double flute. The representation immediately suggests the musical contingent of an ancient Cypriot "hayride." However, it is well to remember the wheeled carts that participated in Athenian processions; most notable was the wheeled ship in the festival of the Anthesteria dedicated to Dionysos. The "cart" here is a wheeled couch, perhaps representing a special conveyance used under special circumstances.

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