Terracotta pelike (jar)

Geras Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Dionysos Reverse, satyr The figures have been accommodated admirably to the size and shape of the pelike. Dionysos is dressed up, including soft shoes. The bending branch and the end of his staff beneath the kantharos evoke flowing wine. His satyr attendant is characterized by his nudity and by the wineskin that levitates behind him. He extends his oinochoe (jug) to his master's kantharos (drinking cup).

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