Marble fragment of a volute krater

Marble fragment of a volute krater

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Large marble vases carved with figured reliefs are among the most spectacular objects produced in workshops that specialized in classicizing works for a sophisticated Roman clientele. This fragment includes one handle and part of the neck and shoulder of a volute krater that once must have decorated a Roman garden. A large mask of a bearded Dionysus adorns the base of the handle, while grape leaves carved in low relief spread out behind it.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marble fragment of a volute kraterMarble fragment of a volute kraterMarble fragment of a volute kraterMarble fragment of a volute kraterMarble fragment of a volute krater

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.