Limestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left hand

Limestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left hand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The feet and the right hand are missing. The left leg is advanced and both arms are lowered with hands extended. The left hand holds a bird and a small pyxis, the right, a branch attached to the arm. The body is covered by a chiton with long, U-shaped folds and a pleated surface. A long garment with U-shaped folds is draped over the shoulders and chest. The neck is thick. The face has a smiling expression, the tip of the nose is broken. The almond-shaped eyes are surmounted by high-set eyebrows. Over the forehead, ears, and nape of the neck is a roll of rectangular locks. A wreath of vertical leaves is set on the rounded head, with locks summarily indicated. The forms of the body are roughed out on the back.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Limestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left handLimestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left handLimestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left handLimestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left handLimestone statue of a male votary holding a bird in the left hand

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.