Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar)

Painter of London E 342

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Nike (the personification of victory) holding a fillet Reverse, youth leaning on staff The subject of Nike crowning a youth occurs often on Greek vases. It is interesting to reflect that when Nike and the victor appear in a scene together, the action is understood as occurring before us. When the two protagonists are shown on opposite sides of a vase, as here, an interval of time is added between what we see and what we know will happen.

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