Limestone statue of a youth holding a pyxis

Limestone statue of a youth holding a pyxis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The boy wears a chiton under a himation that is draped over the left shoulder and covers the lower part of the body from the hips down as well as the left forearm from which a panel of fabric falls to the calf. At the level of the hip, the left hand holds a circular box (pyxis), while the right hand lifts the cover.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Limestone statue of a youth holding a pyxisLimestone statue of a youth holding a pyxisLimestone statue of a youth holding a pyxisLimestone statue of a youth holding a pyxisLimestone statue of a youth holding a pyxis

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.