Terracotta beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This large beaker is attributed to the workshop of Cn. Ateius, one of the best producers of Roman Arretine pottery in the Late Augustan period. Although such relief-molded, red-gloss ware was mass produced for the general market, it often contained features that echo the very highest examples of Roman art. The ornate stand and swan motifs on this beaker recall elements in the wall paintings from the luxury villa at Boscotrecase, as seen in the Black Room adjacent to this gallery.

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