Terracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to Artemis

Terracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to Artemis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragment shows a cult statue of Artemis on an altar holding a phiale and a bow. The head and neck of a sacrificial deer, as well as a hand holding a knife, appear at the left. Numerous complete examples of this well documented statuette type allow us to match the hand with the winged figure of Eros. He would have been depicted facing the viewer with his left knee in the small of the deer's back.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to ArtemisTerracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to ArtemisTerracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to ArtemisTerracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to ArtemisTerracotta statuette fragment of a deer sacrificed at an altar to Artemis

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.