Terracotta vase with relief decoration

Terracotta vase with relief decoration

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotes, Athena, Nike, and lyre-players During the third century B.C. Tarentum fell under the hegemony of Rome. It was directly involved in the conflicts between Rome and the Carthaginians under Hannibal until finally losing its sovereignty to Rome in 209 B.C. The changed cultural environment led to changes in artistic production. One innovation is represented by vases such as these, built up of various sections, decorated with subjects in relief, and brightly painted.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta vase with relief decorationTerracotta vase with relief decorationTerracotta vase with relief decorationTerracotta vase with relief decorationTerracotta vase with relief decoration

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.