Bronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottom

Bronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottom

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Phialai decorated with a rosettes in shallow relief have been found in Cyprus, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. However, the depiction of similar bowls in ancient Near Eastern relief sculpture from the late Archaic period suggests that the prototypes for these wares were perhaps the metallic vessels used by the Achaemenid kings of Persia. A glass phiale in the Metropolitan Museum (69.11.6) from the sixth century B.C., which closely parallels the bronze example in this case, confirms that despite being made in a variety of media, such bowls adhered to a stylistic convention over time.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottomBronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottomBronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottomBronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottomBronze phiale (libation bowl) with rosette on the bottom

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.