Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora

Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora

Kleophrades Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Athena Reverse, pankration (athletic contest) and judge After the mid-sixth century B.C., artists' signatures do not appear on Panathenaic prize amphorae. It seems, however, that certain artists used their own "trademark" shield devices. The Kleophrades Painter favored Pegasos, the winged horse. The reverse of this vase depicts the pankration, which combined wrestling, boxing, and kicking. The inclusion of the judge may highlight the particular danger of the event to the competitors.

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.