Terracotta vase with janiform heads

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vases with janiform (back-to-back) heads were produced by Athenian potters near the end of the sixth century B.C. The heads usually provide a contrasting juxtaposition: for example, a satyr paired with a maenad or Herakles with Omphale. This Etruscan vase is unique because both heads are made from the same mold but are painted to appear different, one representing a satyr with pointed ears and a beard, the other a Black African man. The neck and handle of the vase are similar to a type of Italic lekythos (oil flask).

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