Pair of bronze handles with satyrs

Pair of bronze handles with satyrs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The handles were once attached to a large bronze column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water). Traces of solder on the tops suggest the possibility of additional elements now missing. Each satyr stands erect, with a hand brought to the head in a salute-like gesture called the aposkopein, a Greek word that defines a "glancing into the distance" and is a characteristic gesture of satyrs.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of bronze handles with satyrsPair of bronze handles with satyrsPair of bronze handles with satyrsPair of bronze handles with satyrsPair of bronze handles with satyrs

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.