Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial vase for water)

Metope Painter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the body, obverse, woman with attendant in naiskos (shrine) flanked by youths and women Reverse, woman in naiskos flanked by youths and women On the shoulder, obverse, head of a woman wearing a Phrygian cap within foliage Reverse, head of a woman within foliage This loutrophoros is a slightly simpler counterpart of the adjacent example. The naiskos has only two columns, and the lower part of the podium is covered with vine tendrils. The woman opens a casket, while her maid holds a garland of flowers. Although the function of such vases is not fully understood, it was most probably funerary. From its origins in Athens, the loutrophoros was associated with weddings and with rites for those who died unmarried. The iconographical formula of figures in a naiskos was established in sculpture on the Greek mainland, whence it reached Southern Italy.

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