Bronze basket vase with swinging handles

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The majority of bronze basket vases come from Campania, particularly around the Bay of Naples where there may have been a workshop specializing in these kinds of vessels. The swinging handles shaped like the Greek letter "omega", are especially characteristic of the type. An unusual motif is the goat-head on the ends of the handle attachments. More common are attachments decorated with the heads of birds-including ducks, as seen on handle 1972.118.89 in this case- dogs, serpents, dolphins, and even satyrs.

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