Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Athena in quadriga wheeling round; Reverse, Dionysos with satyr and maenad. The chariot scene on the obverse shows considerable progress in the depiction of motion and complicated poses. The artist has chosen a remarkably low vantage point, which reveals the lower portions of the chariot box and especially emphasizes the mass and movement of the horses. The various palmette ornaments are also particularly assertive.

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