Four silver-gilt attachments

Four silver-gilt attachments

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These heads—two of helmeted Athena, two of horned Pan—served as decorative elements to an object, perhaps a vase, that was for show and pleasure as much as for use. They are most unusual, being cast rather than hammered and embellished with gold leaf.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four silver-gilt attachmentsFour silver-gilt attachmentsFour silver-gilt attachmentsFour silver-gilt attachmentsFour silver-gilt attachments

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.