Silver navicella-type fibula (safety pin)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fibula with elegant filigree decoration along the hollow bow. This exquisite silver fibula is a triumph of Etruscan filigree decoration. The spine of the hollow silver bow is enlivened with a rectangular panel of serpentine wires framed by beaded wires. The tapering ends of the bow are wrapped by fine wires to create surfaces of great beauty and elegance. By contrast, the clasp is undecorated.

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