Terracotta bell-krater (mixing bowl)

Pisticci Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, satyr and maenad at a herm Reverse, three draped youths The Pisticci Painter is significant as the artist with whom the introduction of red-figure painting into Lucania is connected. As this work indicates, he was well familiar with Attic conventions. Of note in this representation is the kerykeion (herald's staff) on the side of the herm. The kerykeion is one of the attributes of Hermes, the messenger god who also presided over boundaries. The addition of this symbol emphasizes the presence of Hermes in the scene, even though he is not actually depicted.

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