Two fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminals

Two fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminals

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two silver spirals have become fused into one object. The cause may have been the deterioration of the silver or, possibly, a fire from which the pieces were rescued before melting.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminalsTwo fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminalsTwo fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminalsTwo fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminalsTwo fused silver spirals with gold lion's-head terminals

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.