Terracotta situla (bucket)

Lycurgus Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dionysos among satyrs and maenads. On the bottom, round face A situla is a bucket that served to decant wine. The shape is well attested in metal examples and in terracotta counterparts of different types. This piece presents a spirited depiction of the wine-god Dionysos driving his griffin-drawn chariot to a gathering of his followers. Particularly engaging is the old satyr dipping a jug into the decorated calyx-krater, probably to fill the libation bowl in his left hand. On the back, Dionysos is seated between a satyr and a maenad and is surrounded by attributes, including a fawn, a cista (cylindrical box), and wreaths.

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