Terracotta mug in the form of a woman's head

Terracotta mug in the form of a woman's head

Class G: The London Class of Head Vases

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The ease with which Attic potters and painters moved between shapes and between figural and foliate iconography is evident in this work. Above the head is a cuff embellished with a palmette ornament typical of cups and pots at the turn of the fifth century B.C. In the present context, the effect is that of a floral diadem or polos (headdress).

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta mug in the form of a woman's headTerracotta mug in the form of a woman's headTerracotta mug in the form of a woman's headTerracotta mug in the form of a woman's headTerracotta mug in the form of a woman's head

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.