Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Amasis Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the shoulder, women dancing between musicians playing flute and lyre On the body, wedding procession This is the earliest and most complete known representation of an Attic wedding. The bridal couple with the best man behind them sit in a cart drawn by two donkeys. A mule cart with four guests follows. Other members of the procession are on foot. The woman in the lead holds two torches, indicating that the scene takes place at night. The procession heads toward the bridegroom's house where a woman, probably the mother of the groom, awaits. The architecture of the house is carefully indicated; the white columns of the porch may be painted wood.

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