Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)

Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These handles are made from sheets of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. The edges were folded under to enclose bronze wires, a technique often used in Mycenaean metalwork. The shape of the handles indicates that the complete vessel was a kantharos, similar to the gold example on display nearby. Fragments of the vase’s rim indicate that the body was made of silver and the pieces were secured using gold rivets.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)Pair of electrum handles from a kantharos (drinking cup with two high vertical handles)

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.