Terracotta amphora (jar)

St. Audries Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse and reverse, chariot scene Certain shapes, notably the kylix (drinking cup), tended to be decorated with scenes directly related to their function. Concurrently, certain subjects were favored by Attic artists at a given time. As the sixth century B.C. progressed, the chariot gradually took its iconographical place beside the horse and horseman. This representation, which has many counterparts, shows a youth at the horses' heads, attending to them in some way. The dignity in the depiction as well as the youth's solicitousness express the Athenians' esteem for man and horse.

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