Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)

Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

in high relief, Arsinoe II The double cornucopia held in the crook of the left arm of the figure is an attribute of the Ptolemaic queen, Arsinoe II. Such cornucopiae, accompanied by inscriptions bearing her name appear on coins, as well as on complete examples of relief oinochoai, thus allowing a secure identification of the queen, despite the small size of the fragment and lack of head.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)Gilt faience fragment of an oinochoe (jug)

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.