Terracotta calyx-krater (mixing bowl)

Konnakis Group

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, phlyax (comic actor) Reverse, vine Phlyax vases are characterized by the representation of a rustic comic figure wearing a short garment padded in front and behind, a large phallos, and tights. Phlyax plays parodied tragic drama or the Greek gods and heroes, or they focused on ridiculous aspects of daily life. The emphasis on color in Gnathian vases heightens the jollity of the actor here, who wears the mask of a slave and brandishes a torch.

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