Terracotta pelike (jar)

Somzée Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Dionysos banqueting Reverse, three youths The scene presents an early form of the outdoor gathering—with or without repast—so favored in later Western art. Dionysos, the god of wine, reclines on a couch in a hilly setting with a spreading vine. A young man and an old satyr attend to the wine—worthy of notice is their calyx-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) decorated with a satyr and maenad, followers of Dionysos. In front of the god is a surface with bread and fruit. The woman at right brings grapes in a flat basket. Although the drawing is facile, the figures are substantial and individually characterized.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art