Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a woman

Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a woman

Aison

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, libation scenes The canonical kantharos was a drinking cup. This example is special because of the spout introduced into the woman's neck, a feature suggesting that the vase may have been used for offerings. The rendering of the satyr's head is impressively plastic, indeed sculptural.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a womanTerracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a womanTerracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a womanTerracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a womanTerracotta kantharos (drinking cup with two vertical handles): heads of a satyr and a woman

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.