Terracotta neck-amphora

Terracotta neck-amphora

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The iconography of this vase is emphatically martial. On the neck, a warrior appears between two horses; on the body is a procession of chariots. Armed warriors, chariots, and horses are the most familiar iconography of the Geometric period. Whether these images reflect a real world of military threat and conflict, or refer to the heroic deeds of ancestors, is a longstanding debate in studies of Geometric art.The painted decoration is enhanced by snakes added in clay. Snakes are traditionally associated with death because they can burrow under the ground and periodically shed their skin, a sign of renewal. This neck-amphora belongs to a group of eight terracotta vases (10.210.1-.8) that are said to be from Athens. Despite the absence of archaeological record, they were probably found together in a tomb. Such groups are well attested in excavated burials. Moreover, the iconography of the two neck-amphorae, particularly the one with the mourning women on the neck, is appropriate for a funerary purpose. The group displays stylistic changes that occurred from about 730-700 BCE, a time of artistic innovation that resulted in the end of the formal precision of the Geometric style and the rise of the exuberant Protoattic style.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.