Terracotta mastoid (drinking cup with narrow base)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, between eyes, seated youth with branches Reverse, between eyes, nose The mastoid is a variant of the skyphos characterized by the breast-like shape, which provides its name. The eyes on either side reflect a predilection in Attic vase-painting between about 540 and 500 B.C. While their meaning has not been conclusively established, they certainly have to do with the insights afforded by the consumption of wine and its perils. Mastoids are among the vases for drinking imported into Etruria in large numbers.

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