Terracotta relief probably from a funnel vase

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of four reliefs with two-figure compositions depicting a combat, likely between a Gaul and a Greek.. Their raised hands originally held spears. Several reliefs probably decorated a large funerary jar. They rested on a shelf-like projection from the body of the vase and were secured by dowels through the holes in the plaque. The rendering of the mounted figures almost in the round enhances the drama of the encounter.

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