Terracotta neck-amphora of Nicosthenic shape (jar)

Class of Cabinet des Médailles 218

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Obverse, Herakles fighting Amazons; on the neck, fight Reverse, Dionysos and satyrs; on the neck, courting scene The Nicosthenic neck-amphora is characterized by ribbon handles that are attached at the top of the lip and on the shoulder. In addition the body tends to be egg-shaped and the neck quite narrow. The shape is named after Nikosthenes, the enterprising owner of a potter's establishment that exported actively to Etruria. Nikosthenes signed his wares often and specialized in Atticizing Etruscan shapes that evidently appealed to his western clientele.

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