Bronze horse

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Each eye of this bronze horse was carefully hollowed out to receive an inlay. Holes in the hooves indicate the statuette was originally attached to another object, possibly the rim or handle of a large tripod cauldron. Animals and mythical creatures often decorated monumental bronze cauldrons that served as dedications to the gods at Greek sanctuaries, most notably at Olympia and Delphi and on the island of Samos.

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