Bronze handles and rim of a cauldron

Bronze handles and rim of a cauldron

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metal kraters with decorated rims and handles are extremely rare. The body of the vessel to which these were originally attached has not survived. The fine metalwork is quite worn and exhibits a mixture of influences from East and West characteristic of Cypriot manufacture. The demonlike figures on the handles are Near Eastern in origin, although they display strong Aegean stylistic influence.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze handles and rim of a cauldronBronze handles and rim of a cauldronBronze handles and rim of a cauldronBronze handles and rim of a cauldronBronze handles and rim of a cauldron

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.