Bronze hydria (water jar)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inscribed on top of the mouth "one of the prizes from Argive Hera" This hydria, like Greek art in all its forms, is marked by clearly defined parts organized into a harmonious well-proportioned whole. The plain body swells gently to the shoulder zone, which turns inward with a soft, cushionlike curve. The shoulder is decorated with a simple shallow tongue pattern that echoes the vertical ribbing on the foot. The neck shoots up from the shoulder to a flaring mouth from which the bust of a woman seems to emerge. The figure belongs to the vertical handle of the hydria. She wears a peplos. Her serene face is framed by carefully detailed hair. Rotelles with a rosette pattern give a semblance of outstretched hands. We know from the inscription on the mouth that this hydria was a prize awarded at games for the goddess Hera at her sanctuary in Argos in the Peloponnisos.

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