Terracotta female figure

Terracotta female figure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mycenaean statuettes of this type are named for their resemblance to the shape of the Greek letter phi (φ). Although highly schematic, phi figures are identified as female by the presence of long dresses and clearly defined breasts. Examples have been discovered in funerary, religious, and domestic contexts. Their symbolism is not clear, and their use probably varied according to circumstance. This example has a circular body completely covered with painted wavy lines, perhaps indicating folds of drapery. Breasts are indicated, although the arms are little more than bulges hanging down at the sides. Her face is pinched, with eyes applied as separate slips of clay.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.