Terracotta oinochoe: olpe (jug)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Young horseman between youth and woman The olpe is a jug characterized by a mouth that is continuous rather than articulated with a spout. This example represents an early type in which the mouth is black rather than decorated. The meaning of the scene is puzzling, insofar as all three figures are holding spears. It may be that the youths are leaving or returning home; the woman with a spear is probably a member of the household.

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