Terracotta oinochoe (jug)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The vases in this case with the accession numbers that begin with 30.118.1 belong to a deposit that was found at the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Hymettos, near Athens. The objects date to a period of about two centuries, from the late tenth to the late eighth centuries B.C. and illustrate the nature of ordinary dedications. Of note is the considerable number of small pieces. The vases were acquired as a gift of the Greek government. This oinochoe and its counterparts, 30.ll8.18, 30.118.20, 30.118.40, illustrate Athenian artists' mastery of potting and decoration from the beginning of the Geometric period.

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