Bronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skin

Bronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

As Alexander the Great is represented with a similar elephant skin on coins minted by Ptolemy I of Egypt, this statuette may represent Alexander as ruler of Egypt. This figure has also been identified as Demetrios I of Bactria, who is represented on coins wearing the scalp of an elephant in recognition of his conquests in India. Its monumental quality may signify that it reflects a famous large-scale equestrian statue.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skinBronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skinBronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skinBronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skinBronze statuette of a rider wearing an elephant skin

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.