Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, figure seated at altar Reverse, recumbent satyr There are numerous noteworthy iconographical features on this vase. The figure seated next to a flaming altar is most unusual, at least from the perspective of Greek iconography. It raises the question whether the figure and the altar have been conflated from two separate, though related, scenes. On the reverse, the satyr's hooves are articulated with particular delicacy, almost as though they were fancy shoes.

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