Fragmentary terracotta rhyton (vase for libations or drinking)

Sotades Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Remains of two figures The predilection for vases in figural form continued throughout the fifth century B.C. During the middle of the century, the workshop of the Sotades Painter was the most active and creative source. Whereas head vases, occasionally with two heads conjoined, were popular in the 490s and 480s, the next generation of artists introduced the conceit of combining the heads of different animals, in this case, a donkey and a ram. The painted scene probably showed a satyr and a maenad.

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