Terracotta jointed "doll"

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Many examples of such small jointed figurines have been found in tombs, sanctuaries, and terracotta factories. Their attire—a cylindrical polos (headdress) and a short tunic and shoes—seems to indicate that they are ritual dancers. Similarly dressed dancers on reliefs of the fifth century B.C. hold castanets, and some of the jointed figurines hold cymbals or castanets. They are too fragile to serve as real dolls and must have been charms hung up to repel evil with their potential noise and movement.

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