Bronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dress

Bronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Parallels for this boy's unusual and unclassical costume, particularly his trousers and ornate pyramidal hat, can be found in works from the eastern borders of the Hellenistic world in the kingdoms of Commagene and Armenia, north of Mesopotamia, beginning in the middle of the first century B.C. This statuette was found in Egypt together with an identical figure that is now in the collection of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. The subject's identity has been much debated and remains a mystery. He may represent Attis, a god of vegetation from Phrygia in central Anatolia. It has also been suggested that the existence of two copies of the same statuette may reflect a double geographical reference—that is, if set up together, the twin figures could be identified as the personifications of Armenia Major and Armenia Minor. However, the images are so similar that more likely they represent the same individual. Most recently, the statuette has been identified as a portrait of Alexander Helios, son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, as prince of Armenia after Mark Antony's conquest in 34 B.C. On the other hand, the mannered style, exotic dress, and moderate scale of this figure likely signal a decorative function for the statuette, possibly as a lamp or incense-burner stand.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dressBronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dressBronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dressBronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dressBronze statuette of a boy in Eastern dress

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.