Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Detroit Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The glaze on Corinthian vases did not always fuse properly with the body of the vessel and has often peeled off. Only traces remain of the scene on the front of this krater, which shows the marriage of Paris and Helen. The bridal pair stands in a chariot ready to depart, surrounded by four Trojan couples wearing festive dress. A single, armed warrior at the far right leads in the four horsemen shown on the other side of the vase. The names of all the figures are inscribed beside them. Goats and panthers fill the zone below.

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