Terracotta hydria (water jar)

Group of Naples 3227

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the body, return of a mounted warrior On the shoulder, tritons Under the handles, head of a woman An Italic warrior, wearing the characteristic plumed helmet, is greeted by a woman who holds the horse's bridle and an attendant carrying the oinochoe and phiale (jug and libation bowl) for an offering. The scene is remarkable for the freshness of the color. Of equal note are the triton and tritoness on the shoulder. The rarity of marine mythology in South Italian vase-painting contrasts greatly with Athenian practice.

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