Marble statuette of a girl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A little girl holding a pet in her apron. The child wears a peplos with a long overfold and over it a sleeveless chiton that has slipped off her left shoulder. She has gathered up the front portion to carry a small animal, probably a pet puppy. Such statues of children were often dedicated as votives in sanctuaries or served as funerary monuments.

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