Terracotta amphora (jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the general shape of the body, lip, handles, and foot, the vase is a descendant of the Panathenaic prize amphora. The ribbing on the body, by contrast, reflects a predilection of contemporary Apulian workshops. The fine foliate ornament on the neck, which originally would have been gilded, is both decorative and an evocation of the original function of the shape as a prize vase.

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