Terracotta hydria (water jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the body, Herakles and Triton On the shoulder, Dionysos in a chariot and three maenads A number of details indicate that this vase was probably made after the introduction of the red-figure technique about 530 B.C. The incision, especially of human musculature, reflects the fluency made possible by red-figure. The composition is bursting its frame, and much of the mouth of the vase is unglazed —with the result that the work appears lighter.

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