Faience bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The decorative scheme of this bowl, large petals separated by triangular zones of stacked ferns or pine cones, illustrates the close correspondance between faience and Megarian wares, two types of kiln fired objects ornamented with designs normally associated with silver vessels.While Megarian bowls were made in many places within the Mediterranean basin, faience seems to have been produced solely in Egypt, most likely Alexandria, its artistic and commercial center during the Hellenistic period.The broad appeal of faience bowls, therefore, is attested by their diverse geographical find-spots, such as; the Greek island of Rhodes, Asia Minor (Turkey), Palastine and, Apulia in Southern Italy.

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