Terracotta plaque

Terracotta plaque

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Segment of a palmette-lotus band The two small holes at the top of the plaque suggest that it was suspended. The piece was probably part of a longer band of ornament.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta plaqueTerracotta plaqueTerracotta plaqueTerracotta plaqueTerracotta plaque

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.