Two marble pilasters

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Decorated on three sides with ivy vines in low relief, these twin pillars exemplify the lavish use of colored marble and elaborate carving in Roman architecture. Branches of young ivy and clusters of berries issue from the central stalk that rises vertically from an ornate calyx krater at the base. Birds, insects, and reptiles inhabit the trailing lush foliage, all carved in a vivid, naturalistic manner that evokes a garden in springtime. The pillars are made of cipollino verde (also known as marmor carystium), a precious striated greenish marble desired for its polychromy. Exotic colored marbles conveyed elevated status and were reserved for imperial and prestigious public buildings. The high-quality craftsmanship of the relief also suggests an imperial commission. The pillars probably come from emperor Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli, outside Rome, where similar pillars supported garden buildings. Reused at a later period as doorjambs, they were placed upside-down, as the position of the iron hinges presently shows.

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