Marble head of a satyr playing the double flute

Marble head of a satyr playing the double flute

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Copy of a Greek work of the 3rd century B.C. This satyr with pointed animal ears is one of the many wild creatures that cavort in the train of Dionysos, god of wine. His brows and lips are puckered and his cheeks distended as he plays a double flute. Such realistic rendition of an exaggerated momentary action is typical of Hellenistic art.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble head of a satyr playing the double fluteMarble head of a satyr playing the double fluteMarble head of a satyr playing the double fluteMarble head of a satyr playing the double fluteMarble head of a satyr playing the double flute

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.