Terracotta volute-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) with stand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the neck, obverse and reverse, Dionysos, the god of wine, and his followers, satyrs and maenads The architectonic character of this volute-krater is as great as that of the adjacent one, but the detail is quite different. The figure work on the neck constitutes a crowning frieze. The ribbing on the body introduces a pronounced verticality, and the crisp forms of the stand establish a podium. The small, agile figures of Dionysos and his retinue animate this otherwise sober and imposing ensemble.

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