Terracotta emblem bowl with head of Zeus or Sarapis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The interior medallion in high relief and flaring profile of this terracotta bowl are derived from metallic prototypes and were meant to replicate such luxury items. Clay vessels with these features were made beginning in the Hellenistic period in a variety of regions, such as Southern Italy, Asia Minor, and mainland Greece. It is therefore difficult to identify securely the place of manufacture for this bowl. The relief emblem portraying either Zeus or perhaps, due to the distinctive pattern of the hair and beard, the hellenized-Egyptian god Sarapis, is an unusual subject for the medallions of these bowls, which tend to favor Dionysiac themes and other divinities.

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