Fragment of a bronze leg or support

Fragment of a bronze leg or support

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The object was a decorative adjunct to a utensil, as indicated by the shaft and holes for attachment. The curled leaf could have served as one of several supports for a basin or the equivalent. Alternatively, the whole piece could have embellished a piece of furniture. Dating is difficult because the bull's head has a rather archaic appearance, while the stylization of the leaf suggests a late date.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a bronze leg or supportFragment of a bronze leg or supportFragment of a bronze leg or supportFragment of a bronze leg or supportFragment of a bronze leg or support

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.