Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)

Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The handle of this patera depicts a beautiful winged female, probably an Etruscan lasa. These nymph-like creatures are often associated with the goddess Turan, the Etruscan version of the Roman Venus, but they also act as facilitators for lovers and guardians of innocent victims, especially children. This lasa cradles a drinking horn in her left hand.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)Bronze patera (shallow bowl with handle)

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.