Terracotta deep bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The deep bowl originated in metal during the Hellenistic period and was reinterpreted in clay quickly and widely. The bust represents Dionysos, god of wine, an appropriately frequent subject for a drinking vessel. Pottery of this type is conventionally known as Calenian, after Cales, a site in Campania. Recent studies indicate that there were numerous centers of production in Italy and wide distribution to both the west and the east.

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