Marble statue of a kore (maiden)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This statue of a young woman has the same pose and costume as the well-known statues of korai found on the Athenian Akropolis. She stands with her left leg slightly advanced. Her left hand grasped a fold of her thin linen chiton, pulling it tightly across her legs; the right hand probably held out an offering. The short himation (cloak), which passes diagonally over her right shoulder and under her left arm, falls in vertical, stacked folds. This type of dress originated in the East Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor. The variation in layers and texture animates the surface of the statue, which was once brightly painted.

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