Terracotta pyxis (box with lid)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This type of pyxis, a toilette box for personal objects and cosmetics, appeared in Athens around 850 BCE, based on influences from Mycenaean and Protogeometric pyxides and wooden boxes. It features a strongly curving body and a lid smaller in diameter than the box itself. The handle of the lid is surmounted by a small reproduction of the pyxis, including a sort of conical handle often found on vessels of this type. Geometric pyxides were deposited as gifts in sanctuaries and especially in tombs. Ancient repairs on many of these vessels indicate their use during an owner's lifetime. A similar but much smaller pyxis with traces of a white substance inside, perhaps a cosmetic, was discovered in a wealthy woman’s grave at Eleusis in Attica.

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