Terracotta hydria (water jar)

Olcott Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Funerary statue of a bride flanked by youths and women In South Italian vase-painting, the rare representations of funerary statues generally precede the appearance of naiskoi (shrines). This exceptional scene shows the image of a bride with a crown and phiale (libation bowl). She stands on a high base. Tendrils on either side form a kind of arbor, and a hydria and three phialai appear below.

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