Terracotta amphora fragment with stamped handle

Terracotta amphora fragment with stamped handle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

There are two stamps on the handle. On the top is a large circular stamp with a central rose emblem; the surrounding inscription gives the name of the annual official Xenophantos and the month Sminthios. On the side is a small square stamp with the letter B, representing the number 2. The Inscription reads Ἐπι Ξενοφαντου Σμινθίου

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta amphora fragment with stamped handleTerracotta amphora fragment with stamped handleTerracotta amphora fragment with stamped handleTerracotta amphora fragment with stamped handleTerracotta amphora fragment with stamped handle

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.