Terracotta hydria: kalpis (water jar)

Washing Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bride with attendants and Eros The small Eros hovering in front of the seated woman indicates that she is a bride. She is surrounded by paraphernalia appropriate to her status and situation. Before her, an attendant holds a large fan. Behind her, another extends a plemochoe, a container for perfumed oil. This figure is remarkable for her position: she rests one foot on the mouth of the hydria standing on the floor and holds an arm akimbo. One wonders whether the woman would assume the same position if she were in front of her mistress rather than behind her.

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